Adventuring in the Sorcerous Kingdom
by n1johhner
Summary: This story will mainly follow the adventuring party Berserk as they learn about and apply themselves in the new Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild. They will strive to compete and thrive as they discover the extensive changes the Sorcerous King has made, and they will see if they have what it takes to rise above in his new Adventurer's Guild. Takes place after LN Volume 13.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi guys! This is my first fanfic story, and I just wanted to say I felt inspired by a lot of the other content creators for Overlord fanfiction (looking at YOU, atheistbasementdragon). Please feel free to let me know how I did and leave a review in the comments. I hope you enjoy!**

The area before Barsik had once housed the former Adventurer's Guild Hall, but now the building had been torn down and something new had risen in its place. Far from marking the end of adventuring within their fortress-city of E-Rantel, the new adventuring headquarters appeared alive and well. New armored teams and individuals entered inside once every minute or two, even in the early pre-dawn hour at which his team had chosen to meet.

He was not an easy man to shock, but the tales of what lay within the rising structure before Barsik did just that. Reports of trials by combat involving monsters, elements, and labyrinth-like pathways. Beyond the overwhelming difficulty of assembling these tests, the unbelievable generosity provided by the new national guild was unheard of. Healing magic was provided immediately, even to the lowest level adventurers testing out their skills. And all of the training, tests, and aid provided by the guild would be for the most part – free.

"Hell, do they shack you up with a woman for free in there too?" suggested Gord, another of the party of four. Barsik, held back a grin and kept his gaze on the new Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild Hall.

"Let's not have any of that when we enter this place. You know we're all here cuz we're piss-poor from not working for a season, and if they kick us out from poor behavior it'll be a hell of a ride to anywhere that's still hiring freelance adventuring teams. Besides," Barsik puffed his chest out, "We have a standing to uphold as a former orichalcum-ranked adventuring team. I think it's safe to say that we're all ready to be ranked under the new guild rules, so we can continue our service to the city, as well as to our purses." That last bit earned a light chuckle from his comrades.

Barsik turned his gaze to his another party member, Rane. "Did you hear of any other tidbits of information worth sharing before we check it out for ourselves? You know I don't like surprises. From what we've scrounged up so far I doubt there's much we could come across that would be more absurd than what the bards and taverns are saying about this place. But we wouldn't want to fall flat on our asses in front of the greenhorns just because they've had a couple months to practice..." Rane shook his head, as did their final member, Arkina, beside him. They had all heard the stories of this new guild, even from outside of the Sorcerous Kingdom. They had waited out the first months of the new guild's grand opening, not even a year since the formation of the Sorcerous Kingdom. Their purses could afford them the luxury to wait and make sure it wasn't a trap to lure the kingdom's adventurers to the Sorcerer King's indentured servitude. But now curiosity and pursuit of good fortune brought them to these doors.

A bit of prior research had revealed that the guild held short 45-day long seasons in which adventures must have their strengths be reappraised before they could take work through the guild that month. To Barsik and the rest of his team, it seemed quite wasteful to require use of the adventurers' time so often, but it played to their advantage. All, or most, of the talent in the city would want to test themselves as early as possible in the season, and that meant that the majority of the talent in the city could likely be scouted in the busiest hours of the first day of the season. Barsik's team knew this, which was why they stood in front of the guild on the first day of the fire season, and the first day of the next adventuring season.

There was nothing left but to verify the rumors for themselves, so the former orichalcum-ranked adventuring team _Berserk_ entered the guild.

* * *

Barsik hesitated a moment in the entryway, then advanced to the line queuing in front of what he could recognize as the receptionists' counter, followed by the rest of his teammates. His hesitation was due to the fine carpeting he needed to step on to do so. It was a wonder how the soft and luxurious floorpiece remained so clean with hundreds of adventurers treading over it daily, and he concluded that it must have a minor enchantment on it. This show of extravagance was certainly a step up from the previous guild hall, but as he glanced around the main body of the building about him, Barsik realized that the piece hardly stood out from the rest. A series of lamps of _continual light_ decorated the walls and kept the room much brighter than the pre-dawn light had been outside. Some tapestries and weapons – though they were more like art pieces than functional tools of war – caught the eye across some of the otherwise blank spaces of wall. There was a new built-in counter on the far wall with the apt title _Sorcerous Kingdom Runecraft_ displayed above it on a banner. On display were some fine sets of armor in a variety of makes and sizes. Barsik knew now wouldn't be a great time for shopping with his party's light purses, but the gleam of some of the medium sets of armor's glowing sigils certainly caught his eye. The shop also had a display of potions of various colors – blue, red, and a sort of purple were prominent. '_Poison?', _Barsik wondered. He wasn't certain he well knew the character of the new nation, but that seemed a bit extreme to have on display in such a public area. That said, the previous guild policy had been no tradesman endorsements of any kind, so even having a shop at all in the new guild seemed strange. Beside the armor shop was the bulletin board for currently unfulfilled jobs, much unchanged since the old days. But from the gathered intel he knew that no jobs could be taken until adventurers registered and underwent the seasonal evaluations, so Barsik would lead his team through that process before considering current jobs.

It wasn't long before it was their turn to be seen, and a receptionist beckoned them over. To his surprise, it was a familiar face. "Darla?" he asked, and she smiled politely. Barsik was of the persuasion that it was always important to remember the names of even minor figures within organizations that he did business, and it seemed that he was in luck. He'd remembered this receptionist from the old guild, so it appeared that some of the workers had stayed over into the new system. He hoped that it was by choice and not by force, but if appearances were anything then at least she was living well and had good working conditions. Now, would his former associate provide him any interesting information about the goings on of this new system?

"Former orichalcum-ranked _Berserk_, I am happy to see you after these few seasons, I hope that you are well? May I assist you in registering with the Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild?" she asked politely.

"Hell, that's why we're here." Gord commented. He didn't seem in a particularly happy mood about a lot of the recent changes to the guild, but it was clear that he was also relieved to be working with a familiar face.

Darla nodded. She took out a thin piece of paper and quill, and offered them a serious face. "Sorry about the formalities, but it's policy to take down all the information verbatim even from known associates. Now, party name?"

She continued to ask some basic questions about the party. They would keep their current party name, _Berserk_. There were four party members. They wouldn't need any information about the city, but would like an introduction to the new evaluations and ranking systems of the guild. Curiously, she asked for a short introduction including the name of each party member, age, and their main fighting weapons. So he began.

"Barsik Yarer, 32, close range fighter. Great sword, backup weapon's a mace-and-chain and shortsword. And there's this," he said, indicating the shield at his back. It didn't weigh nothing, but he'd thanked his lucky stars he could depend on some of the protection it provided. Once, Barsik had heard an arrow ping loudly off of the upper back of the shield he carried, and he swore then to never enter unknown combat without it.

Darla indicated she was ready for the next group member, and he began. "Gord Een, 35, warhammer, spiked warshield."

Next, "Rane Jir, 27, bow, shortsword, dagger."

Finally, "Arkine Astar, 25, just my staff."

Darla gave them a smile as she finished filling out the document. She left for a moment, returning with four strange metal plates. Gord groaned, "Don't tell me we're starting as iron-plates."

The receptionist shook her head. "No, it'll be up to your own performance evaluations what rank you start with, though I doubt you'll be that comparatively low. Do you see those doors over there?" She indicated to two doors to the right of the counter, the close one labeled _Individual_ the other _Party_. "You will all enter the door on the left, and follow through the next open door to the evaluations hall. There you'll have the option to test your strengths at a variety of booths individually. Don't worry if some of them don't play to your strengths, only your top three scores matter to determine your final score. Once you've finished that you should each be qualified enough to enter one of the individual combat rooms. Your performance there will determine what ranked rooms your party will be able to enter."

After this description, Barsik wasn't the only member of his party showing visible confusion. What was the point of all these tests? Darla nodded, and explained further. "The point of all of this is to make sure that adventurers don't try to tackle harder problems than they can handle, similar to how the ranking system of the former guild wouldn't allow a copper plate to take a quest meant for a gold rank because they could be hurt or worse, and the job may not be satisfied. Well within these walls there is a guarantee that all sustained injuries will be healed and death is guaranteed to be impossible, but we still don't want inexperienced adventuring parties to attempt rooms they're not prepared for." Barsik understood. He had no doubt that whatever "rooms" the guild had available for training purposes would pose no difficulty to his party, which had been second only to the well-known adamantite-ranked adventuring parties and perhaps a few other orichalcum-ranked ones in the past. But it made sense that they would have to prove themselves before entering such trials, so he nodded his assent. Seeing this, the receptionist moved on.

"For an example, let's say that one of you earned a 3, a 3, and a 4 as your top scores in the Evaluation Hall. The first-level combat room needs at least a total of 5 points to enter, but with 10 points you'd be allowed to skip to the third level room next to it. The rooms are connected inside, but only odd-numbered rooms may be entered from the outside, so either 1, 3, 5, etc. Another way to reach the higher level combat rooms is to just enter into a lower level room and reach the higher ones the hard way, so to speak. Regardless, all party members must pass through at least one individual combat room before they can fight with their party through a party room." She gestured to the far door labeled _Party_. "Party rooms are also ranked in increasing difficulty, and the average individual combat room completion number across all party members must be equal to or higher than the party room level to enter."

Barsik realized something. "So that means parties are punished for weaker members, almost like dead weight. If one of the members can't complete solo rooms by themselves, then their rank makes it so the whole party might have a lower average and not be able to advance. Plus a truly weak party member might not be able to join the group at all, if they didn't qualify for or couldn't pass any of the combat rooms."

Darla nodded. "Correct, although a party is allowed to advance to the next room regardless if all party members have successfully finished the prior level of that party room category. Which brings me to the next subject – Plus memberships. The standard guild membership allows the party access to the first category of group combat, the Dungeon. In order to accept quests from the bulletin board, a party must have at a minimum completed the first level of the Dungeon scenario. More advanced quests may require higher levels of the Dungeon scenario, and they may also require additional categories of group combat scenarios to be competed before a party may accept the quest. The way to gain access to these rooms, and some other benefits as well, is through a Party Plus membership with the guild."

Barsik raised an eyebrow. What the receptionist appeared to be saying was that you needed to pay the guild first before taking more lucrative job offers, which might defeat the purpose. He decided to clarify, "And how much exactly does a Plus membership cost a party?"

She shook her head. "Nothing in gold, sorry if I implied otherwise. I forgot you're new to the city since recent changes. No, the membership requires no monetary fee, but rather one of time and effort. It enlists a new concept put forth by the Sorcerer King called 'community service' that Plus members must provide to earn their statuses. The Adventurer's Guild provides connections to local service opportunities within the city and surrounding lands to work on public welfare and construction projects, which adventurers contribute to to gain Plus membership status. This status lasts for a month before additional service is required for renewal. And in addition to unlocking additional party rooms and thus additional quests, the guild also provides a 20% discount on all Runecraft and potion items purchasable within the guild hall, and forfeits the previously customary 20% quest fee for services rendered."

That last part made Barsik want to clean his ears to see if he heard correctly, and he fought not to show the shock he was feeling. To release the normal Adventurer's Guild fee would be a substantial increase to the prize for any completed quest. It would be like suddenly having a 5th party member, but not having any change to how rewards were normally divided between the them, or performing 4 jobs instead of 5 with the same pay. Depending on what sort of services these 'community services' entailed, it could be well worth the lucrative Party Plus reward. It would definitely be something worth consulting the receptionist for, but before that the party would need to go through the evaluation process regardless. Since the receptionist had said local adventurers were well accustomed to the Party Plus system, it would likely not be difficult to dig up information from other sources on how worth it the troubles were.

Lastly…

"Thank you for your help Darla, we are most grateful. One last thing I would like to ask if I could… beyond the changes we've talked about, is there anything else I should know about how the new guild operates? How have some of the other veteran teams reacted to these changes, and is there anything we should be on the lookout for? We don't like surprises, and this new nation seems ripe enough with those to satisfy me for a few lifetimes." Barsik finished. He knew she'd probably told him everything she was supposed to, but since he knew her from before, it was worth seeing what that was worth.

Darla's face changed slightly from a more professional smile to knowing look, but she didn't look worried or upset at the question. "Yes, much has changed since the Sorcerer King came to power, but I must say once you get a good look around the city you'll see most of the changes have been for the better. You ask what other veterans like _Berserk_ have been saying and I can't get too detailed about what lies in store, but I will say that some of the new quests are quite...extravagant." Her eye had a small twinkle, but it didn't look like she would go on further. Barsik thanked the receptionist for her time, and they advanced onward.


	2. Chapter 2

The room beyond the door labeled _Individual_ seemed curiously blank. It consisted of, entirely, a fairly large square room with empty walls, save for a few continual light lamps, and a large open door leading to the next room. Ominously, several robed liches stood against the walls, but they were unmoving. The room beyond, however, was very well lit and there was boisterous crowding visible within. The team entered, and it was no wonder at the boisterous climate the room held, as the expanding room was teeming with adventurers.

"Guess we had the right idea coming in on day one of the new season..." Rane suggested. "Never seen this many adventurers in one room before, hopefully we'll see some of the local talent." His gaze seemed fixed on the exhibit immediately to the group's right, an archery range. "How did they..." he started, bringing the full attention of the rest of the team. Indeed, it did seem an incredible feat. The range seemed to stretch out to nearly the end of visible distance, all still fully enclosed within the building they now stood in.

Arkine suggested the only thing that came to mind. "Maybe we're somehow underground now? Otherwise, this is a spacial magic I've never heard of..." she admitted. The problem, of course, was that they did not feel that they had passed underground, and that the Adventurer's Guild structure was not even close to big enough to fit such a long range. What's more, as the group finished surveying the area they saw a wider open space next to a booth titled 'Shot Put'. Within that expanse stretched a field of grass with a high ceiling. This much was beyond reasonable understanding. Even so, it would do no good to stand and gawk, and Barsik suggested that the team should all queue for the same booths, starting with archery.

* * *

In another place, a meeting was just finishing. Though the room depicted vast wealth that the wealthiest of the wealthy would envy, it was the aim of the room's owner to play down the air of subservience normally presented by all those around him.

"Thank you for your hard work in the kingdom, Demiurge, please raise your head," a commanding voice requested. Of course, it was the Sorcerer King, the Guild Master, leader of the the 41 supreme beings, Ainz Ooal Gown. At his lord's bidding, the loyal servant Demiurge rose, and joined the small collection of his peers.

Ainz sighed internally. The whole point of meeting in this unofficial room, with as small an audience as possible, was to tone down the customary practical worship coming from the floor guardians. He wanted to hold these weekly staff meetings in order to actually learn how things within the kingdom and surrounding areas were going straight from the source. In his experience when the guardians were so subservient, they usually just bowed to him and told him everything had been going according to his plans. '_What plans?!'_ Ainz had wanted to cry out on more than one occasion. Unbeknownst to him, this was largely due to Demiurge and Albedo schooling the other guardians on what was surely the expected outcomes of just small portions of their leader's divine wisdom.

With little more than sporadic references to certain figureheads within the kingdom, Ainz gave up and allowed Demiurge to be finished with his report. Of the three guardians in this staff meeting, Demiurge always seemed to be the least helpful in informing Ainz about the goings on of his various activities within the lands of humans and demihumans. At least Cocytus always had some interesting news about the training and rebuilding of the lizardmen. And lastly…

"Now Mare, please tell me about your continued efforts within the Adventurer's Guild Hall? How deep have the dungeon and individual combat rooms been expanded to now?"

"O...of course, Ainz-sama. The...the individual rooms have been built down to level 11, and the dungeon is down to level 9. My...my lord?" the young dark elf looked up to the peerless figure with a questioning face.

"What is it Mare?" Ainz asked, doing his best to school the joy out of his voice. _'Eleven levels deep hmm? That had better be interesting. And so many levels for the party dungeon...I wonder if I should look into filling out a few more spots in Darkness? So far there hasn't been anything too challenging, but a magic caster in a suit of armor and a __low__-60s battle maid can only go so far...'_

"My Lord...may I ask how deep it should go down? I thought maybe level 30 or 40 summons would be good for the strongest levels, but I wanted to make sure Ainz-sama was happy with..."

"Hoh, maybe level 90 or so..." Ainz thought out loud, wondering which of the top mercenary-type summons he should consider for adding a new party member later in the deeper dungeon levels.

Demiurge's eyes practically burst through this glasses. Could this be another glimpse into his master's divine wisdom? He'd thought he understood at least a fraction of his lord's plans behind all of the resources and expenditures going into the creation of the Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild's expansive evaluation and testing measures, but what possible reasonings could he have missed? Surely, if he could divine his master's intentions, he may gain a glimpse into the rest of the immortal being's will. He would have to discuss this in great detail with Albedo, perhaps even the guardian of the treasury...

"Eeh?" Ainz said, reading the sudden change in atmosphere around the room, and returning to his senses. "Oh, just keep going for now, Mare, I'm sure you'll know when a good place to end the dungeon levels will be. Just don't make it too easy!" He jested.

Mare gulped, "Of...of course Master, I will re...redouble my efforts and make you proud."

Ainz thanked Mare for his hard work, and dismissed the group. Swallowing his pride, but much more importantly wondering if he had already somehow inadvertently disrupted the plans he was just learning about, Demiurge stayed a moment further at his master's side.

"What is it, Demiurge?" Ainz asked, noticing the final member of the meeting remaining in his place.

"My lord, please forgive this misguided one for failing to divine what for you must have been an obvious continuation from your most exalted plans and actions within the kingdom."

"It is forgiven Demiurge, truly I would be hard pressed without your services and wise executions of my every whim," Ainz bluffed, racking his brains for what on Earth the arch-devil was referring to.

"Please, my lord, can you inform this unwise one as to your plans with the new Adventurer's Guild? I had previously supposed that the resources and Nazarick technology being employed in its construction must just have been to gather the world's strongest and most prominent obtainable warriors to under your banner, but now I can see that there must obviously have been some greater purpose, one truly fit for the efforts under Mare and your exalted self."

"Wha...aha...yes of course, Demiurge, leave it to you to presume any and every detail of my plans even as they unfold." Ainz praised. Desperately, he wished he could shout out loud what he was truly thinking, _'I just wanted to have fun dungeoning a bit as Momon. No one, much less me, can work non-stop with no breaks, but every time I try to take a day off I get maids practically begging me on their knees to see to me, and I can't really relax if I have to keep up the pretense of this 'all-knowing' crap. Oh, Demi, can't you just give me this one thing?'_. Finally, he decided to give Demiurge a half-truth in the hopes of satiating his desire to somehow always be outsmarted by his average-intellected superior."Well Demiurge, I'm sure you know that you've concluded correctly on the vast majority of my purposes, but I'll inform you that a small side-goal of mine was simply to act as Momon within the Guild, I'm hoping for it to be quite interesting."

Demiurge's mind flew through the possibilities suggested by his master's new words, until he came upon what most certainly must have been the true intentions. "Oh, I see, of course. I understand now, and I will strive to loyally uphold what parts of your will I may help to accomplish, my lord."

"Ah, yes, well, if that's it I believe I should see to these...eem...very important tasks myself. That will be all, Demiurge." Ainz stumbled. Good thing he knew what today was...Ainz really needed a break.


	3. Chapter 3

The adventuring team _Berserk_ did not have to wait especially long before it became their turn to try their hands at the archery booth. Though there were large quantities of adventurers within the room, a good number of them were not actually waiting in lines, but rather sitting at some of the available tables conversing or eating food purchased from one of the many food stalls. Additionally, the pace of the line ran rather smoothly. Each contestant was given a short amount of time to practice on practice targets, then faced four tests of ranged strength, with a 15 second time limit on each. After that their performance would be judged by a robed undead (extraordinary in itself, but come to be expected within the Sorcerous Kingdom) with a raspy voice and an average-looking elf carrying a small board with paper and quill. The adventurer would be awarded a numeric score for their efforts. Surprisingly, not only could adventurers use their own bows instead of those provided, but ranged casters could choose to compete with spells instead of arrows, as was demonstrated by some adventurers of that persuasion.

Near the range was a wall with magical text on it reading 'All-Time High Scores' and 'Seasonal High Scores' with 10 names below each. The highest score earned on the all-time list was a standalone 7, earned by 'Neia Baraja'. The seasonal high scores, however, only went as high as a 4. "Today's your lucky day, you might be able to make the top of the list Rane," Barsik prodded. "None of the big contenders have gotten here yet." Rane responded with a dirty look, and was called upon to enter the range a moment later.

"You may use these 5 targets to practice," the raspy voice informed Rane. He fought not to shiver at the sound and feel of the undead so close. With a centering breath, the experienced adventurer looked past the shivering aura and allowed calmness to fill himself. He prepared his five arrows, and loosed them with practiced ease, eager for what lay next.

"Now, five distance targets, five projectiles only, maximum of one hit counted per target, 15 seconds starts after your first arrow" the elf attendant informed him. The targets were lined up in a receding line with the first at 20 meters and the farthest far beyond reason clear at the barely visible end of the range. Rane thought to himself _most people would just take an extra shot or two at the first few targets...but then I'm not post people_. He steadied himself, and loosed his first arrow.

"Whew," Barsik whistled, careful not to talk until after Rane finished shooting and the booth attendants began a hushed debate. Barsik didn't have the eye to know how close Rane had landed on the final two of the distance targets, but he had done great on the moving targets and the rapid fire 20 target trial. The final test, the impact trial, seemed a bit ridiculous, and Barsik wondered if it was better suited for mages of some kind. The goal was to strike a stone block from 5 meters away, and knock it back as far as possible. Barsik doubted that even with his superior upper body strength he would be able to outperform his companion, who had dulled a volley of arrowheads sent after the block one at a time, knocking it backwards around 2 meters before the time expired.

After the group completed the booth, Rane indeed emerged victorious with a score of 6 to his name. His accomplishment was highlighted at the top of the seasonal high scores, and about midway down the all-time list, above the first score of 5. The team admired his score which had, like theirs, magically engraved itself onto the corner of his new adventuring plate, under a small arrow symbol. Barsik had earned a 4 (to his chagrin still not making the seasonal high score list), followed by Arkine, who had earned a 3 using low level ranged spells to strike targets, and Gord with a 2. Arkine had graciously accepted the mana regeneration potion proffered by the undead judge after her performance. It would allow her to maintain her mana pool while competing to the best of her abilities on the future booths, should her magic be of use.

The next booth the team went to appeared to be one of the smaller ones, with only a metal plate on the ground attached to a tall vertical pole with a bell at the top. Here, the attendants were another robed undead, and a portly dwarf with a long blue beard trailing nearly to the floor framing of his admittedly shorter stature. The attendants allowed contestants to choose from a variety of large hammers, then strike the metal plate with the mightiest blow they could muster. Amazingly, the plate didn't seem to ever suffer any damage, so it was likely either magically imbued or of a high grade.

Barsik recognized a name near the top of the all-time high score list, but what was most amazing about it was that it was not first, but _third._ 'Gagaran', the war pick wielding adamantite-ranked adventurer had earned the only 7, preceded by two _eights_ above it attributed to 'Momon' and 'Go Gin'. 'Momon' was ranked first, though the party knew that was only affected by the order in which the scores were earned. "He must be one hell of a warrior if he can out-muscle that woman in a hammer swinging contest," Gord praised. He, the warhammer-wielding member of the team, had an appreciation for the form.

The line moved even quicker than the last, and soon it was Gord's turn. He walked to the largest hammer in the selection, and went to lift it. Instead of picking up the hammer, Gord stumbled and the hammer remained motionless. Barsik attempted to cover his laugh with a cough, though he frowned soon after. '_He can't be serious…' _Barsik thought. Even with two hands, Gord had barely managed to nudge the hammer, then admitted defeat and hoisted the 3rd largest hammer in the selection. With his face a stone of concentration, the adventurer drove the hammer home onto the plate, giving rise to a near-deafening _SMACK_. After a moment of deliberation with his undead associate, the dwarf patted Gord on the back and commented that it was quite the strike, and resulted in a 5.

When it was next Barsik's turn, he knew better than to try the same hammer, and instead reached for the next size smaller after the one Gord had swung. He braced himself when he lifted, but was still shocked. _This was the heaviest hammer he had ever held_. He gained new respect for his comrade for having swung a larger one in what appeared to be his standard swing.

The final scores were 4's for Barsik and Arkine, and a 3 for Rane. While they were waiting in line for the next booth, Rane was still grumbling over his defeat. "I can't believe you used a spell of lesser strength on yourself_ and_ enchanted the hammer to be lighter before you swung. If I wanted to I could have brought a potion of lesser strength, so it hardly seems fair..." he told her.

"But I asked the lich and he said as long as I cast it on the spot, it was legal," she reminded him, happy not to be the lowest man on the totem pole in the test of strength. As she finished speaking, their argument was cut off as they noticed some excitement forming near the entrance to the room. Between gaps in adventurers, it became clear that the commotion was being caused by the adventurer whom had bested them all in the test of strength, Momon of _Darkness_, an adamantite-ranked adventuring team, 'Beautiful Princess' Nabe by his side. They moved through the crowd and joined the end of the archery line, and even Rane was thankful that he hadn't had an adamantite adventurer breathing down his neck when he was up to shoot.

They were waiting in line for the next activity when it was _Darkness_' time at the range. Nabe went first, using a series of Lightning and _Twin Lightning_ strikes to decimate the targets, earning her a score of 6. Momon proved to be surprisingly adept using a Runecraft bow of intricate design. His choice of weapons for the final task was truly mind-boggling. The dark warrior had set aside his bow, and hurled his twin swords at the poor stone block one at a time, knocking it back dozens of meters. His final score was also a 6, taking its place below Nabe's on the seasonal rank list, though neither of their scores moved from their already secured slots on the all-time high score list.

"What a team..." Rane sighed.

* * *

"So that is our beautiful lord's wisdom," a starry-eyed vampire concluded, after listening to Demiurge's after-action report. All of the guardians were, of course, having their post-staff meeting report that usually followed the smaller meeting between their lord and whomever was currently running errands within the surrounding lands. Incidentally, Mare was absent, citing that he wanted to get back to work as soon as possible to fulfill Lord Ainz's wishes. This did not at all seem strange once Demiurge got to that part of the meeting, explaining what had transpired.

"Yes, it appears our lord's wishes were not only to attract every noteworthy man and woman adventurer within all known kingdoms. He also plans on individually building up groups of legendary human adventurers through intense training, flashing off their strengths to all the rest as an image of what serving in our great lord's kingdom can yield, and then squashing any thought of a rebellious will by holding firmly his position over the adventurer Momon, who will himself be able to clear rooms thought unreachable by even the most studious and well-growing adventuring parties now under our thumb. Truly, his is the only intellect worthy of sitting on the throne of kings," the succubus Albedo, guardian overseer, summarized.

"So cool..." Aura thought.

"I. HAD. NOT. IMAGINED. SUCH. A. MAGNIFICENT. MASTER. PLAN." The heteromorphic ice vermin lord praised.

"Still, I wonder how he plans on holding the adventurers in line once they are stronger than their brothers and sisters," Albedo wondered. "Surely they could never be a true threat to Nazarick, but we wouldn't want to get a bad rep for making the strong and allowing them to do as they pleased with their new strength..."

"It is indeed a wonder I share, Albedo, but I think it's safe to say our lord must have accounted for that in his plans. It should be our job to realize his intentions before it is too late, so that we can assist in subduing any threat the humans may pose on our master's newfound prestige. But first I think there are more important things to see to in order to aid Ainz-sama in his endeavors."

"Hoh?" The guardian overseer wondered. She could see an extra gleam in Demiurge's normally already sparkling eyes.

"Yes of course, I believe Ainz-sama told us all of this so that we can help him sift through, test, and submit to special trials any adventurers that he sees fit to specially subjugate into his system of growth. It is undoubtedly our jobs to force growth by subjecting these adventurers to trials they could never have imagined, and to discard those unworthy of our lord's time and efforts."

"Ah...so that's how it is." Albedo thought. Unlike her compatriot she didn't specifically enjoy tormenting the unknowing and unworthy, but it brought a gleam in her eyes and a widening smile to know that she would be able to so faithfully serve her master's clear will, and she was only slightly envious that Demiurge had seen it first. "Now...I believe we should dispatch some Eight-Edge Assassins to better monitor the evaluations hall. They can help us monitor for any adventurers that are even worth paying attention to. And I'll make sure that the elder liches' reports are made available to everyone so we know which humans to look out for. I think that should be it...is there anything else?" This was met by shaking heads from the rest of the guardians. "Then lets us break for now, and do our best to fulfill Ainz-sama's will!"


	4. Chapter 4

The team was in line for the final tests – a simple magical ability evaluation. They'd debated leaving Arkine alone in line while the rest of the team pursued their own devices, namely some of the excellent-smelling booths nearby. But two other of the members – Rane and Barsik – had at least minor magical abilities, and the group thought it would be worth it to perform the last examination as a party as well. Soon after no one in _Berserk_ regretted how they'd chosen to spend their time, as the next party to join the line was none other than Momon and Nabe of _Darkness_. "Hoh, Barsik, was it?" the powerful adventurer voiced behind them.

'_To be such a man...can I even approach his strength?'_ Barsik wondered at the impossible hero facing his team. Of all the booths they'd visited, either Momon or both Momon and Nabe had already secured spots on the top 10 all-time list. Barsik suddenly had the nervous idea to scan the list behind him for this last booth, the magical aptitude exam. But surely a warrior of this caliber wouldn't literally also be a 1st class caster, it wasn't possible. Though he wished to turn and look to allay his concerns, it would be beyond rude for Barsik to ignore the top-ranked adventurer after he'd already addressed them. "I am honored that you recall me, Sir Momon. It must have been before the Sorcerous Kingdom rose, during the battle against Jaldabaoth when we last met." He almost addressed 'Beautiful Princess' Nabe in a similar fashion, but found that he couldn't even meet her eye. _'Are we so below them that she won't even speak? Well, at least Momon is humble enough to talk to and remember lower ranked teams...'_ he thought.

"Ha? Yes, of course, then. The world is a safer place now that that demon has been put down..."

"Yes, the Sorcerer King certainly did us a great favor. Still, he took two battles to come out victorious, and you drove out Jaldabaoth in your first engagement. Surely, it would not be incorrect to say you may be the strongest being throughout the land, wouldn't you say?" Barsik responded, with a twinkle in his eye.

The mood darkened for a moment. It was a bit risque to belittle the ruler and namesake of the Sorcerous Kingdom, but luckily Momon caught onto his light-hearted remark and clapped his companion, Nabe, on the back as he laughed.

When the line finally made way for them to be evaluated, Arkine stepped forward first. A lich, as appeared to be a common theme among booth officials, reached forward with its skeletal hand. "Detect magic," it rasped, then nodded. "Score of six," the undead announced. Arkine saw her name appear at the top of the seasonal list as well as, to her satisfaction, the bottom of the all-time list. She scanned the list upwards, landing on the top two spots of 'Nabe' and 'Evileye', 8 points apiece. _'Truly, adamantite-rank is the pinnacle of mankind'_, she thought.

Barsik and his party members chose to wait and observe the final ranking of the superior-ranked team before continuing on to the next task, likely lunch. The announcement of, "Score of eight," for Nabe drew gasps from the crowd, but Barsik was focused on her warrior companion. He wasn't on the all-time list, so why did Barsik have a creeping feeling in the back of his neck? Did the warrior have superior skills in all ways a fighter could be strong? Barsik waited for the announcement.

The undead held his hand towards the dark-armored warrior. "Detect magic."

There was silence for a moment. No adventurer in the room, well no one perhaps except for one, was adept at understanding the facial features of an undead, especially one hooded and missing many key facial features that humans usually use to identify feelings. Though the humans in the room could not read the emotions of this lich, there was one chiefly present at that moment. It was that of humor.

"Score of...zero" it finally declared, drawing a sigh from several crowd members. Though they were happy that this being of immense physical strength stood with them, with humanity, it was still comforting to know that no such being could have developed equal or slightly lesser skill in the other main measurement of fighting strength.

* * *

"So...I guess you're the lucky one that gets to try out room 5," Rane commented to Barsik. Of the party members, the party leader was the only one to get the 15 points necessary to enter room 5. His new adventurer's plate had '*****' under the small insignias and scores for the different evaluation booths, presumably indicating the individual combat room he would be allowed to enter. The others all had between 10 and 14 points combined when their top three scores from the Evaluation Hall were tallied, so they had to start at room 3, and had '***' on their plates.

"It's kind of a joke that anyone would be able to enter any combat rooms later than that, especially room 9 or later, based on performance from the Evaluations Hall alone...although I guess we don't know how many rooms there are? Maybe room 7 or 8 is the furthest, I guess some adamantite-ranked adventurers might be able to skip ahead to room 7," Barsik responded. "I wonder what the hell is waiting behind those doors? I heard that the encounters get mixed around so you can't just ask someone who's been here a while what each room number has in it, but from the sounds of it there's a lot of combat involved."

"Still, it can't be too bad, right? I mean they claim that death in one of the individual combat rooms is 'impossible', so it can't be too rough. I have no idea how they expect backliners to be able to go solo though," Rane commented.

"Well, I'm not saying it's fair, but I can see their line of reasoning," Arkine interrupted the two. "If you're only good at contributing when you're in a group, then if you get split up or ambushed the ranged party members may be a liability." Then she puffed up her chest and gestured to her staff, "Well some backliners anyway. I may not prefer melee range, but I can handle myself."

"Psshh, you don't have to remind me. Remember that one goblin that tried to sneak up on us?" Rane reminisced. Of course, he needn't be more specific, all of the party members remembered the decapitated goblin assassin, beheaded by the force of the staff she swung as it had tried to flank the group.

The party neared the door that they'd used to enter the 'Evaluations Hall'. "So, where do you think the doors to the individual combat rooms are? We didn't see any on the way in..." Barsik paused, flustered. Where previously there had been only two doors entering and leaving the room between the Evaluations Hall and the central Adventurer's Guild area, now there were three doors, with a lich standing patiently beside each, and adventurers forming lines beside the doors marked '*' and '***'. There were still more liches patiently waiting along the wall in intervals around the room, for no apparent reason.

"What's with the two new doors?" Rane wondered aloud. Indeed, the whole party was flustered. Still…

"Three," Barsik corrected, still wondering what the hell was going on but also annoyed that his normally observant party member had somehow miscounted such a small number.

"I'm not counting the one we came through, dumbass," Rane responded, probably more upset with the sudden new structural additions than their disagreement.

Barsik would have responded further, but just then the group realized that they were taking up the whole entryway, and holding up no other than Momon and 'Beautiful Princess' Nabe of _Darkness_. Immediately they stepped aside and allowed the powerful adventurers to pass. They watched in silence, then utter disbelief, when the two adventurers walked up to one of the liches that were standing by an empty wall space, showed it their adventurer's plates, then Momon _walked through the seemingly solid wall_, leaving behind his companion.

Together, their jaws dropped. "What is this place..." Barsik wondered, then he got an idea. "You're telling me you can't see the door labeled with five stars, next to those two doors with lines?" He asked. Grim faces informed him that indeed they could not. But that meant… "Then Momon, and probably Nabe too, must be entering room..." he counted the liches standing in front of 'empty' wall space, "Nine?"

"Seems so," Gord agreed. "Either everyone is just started off low, or it will take some hard work to get where they are."

"Yeah, the receptionist did mention that you can get to rooms by qualifying for them in the Evaluation Hall, or just getting up to them through the individual combat system," Barsik recalled, relieved. "Maybe with a bit of hard work we can get up there," he commented dubiously. "Then...I guess I'll go ahead."

Barsik walked to the door with no line, and presented his adventurer's plate to the lich standing by it. "You may enter," the raspy voice informed him. He glanced back at his fellow compatriots taking their places in the line one door over, before opening the door and proceeding forward.


	5. Chapter 5

Beyond that room was a smaller one with a door on each side of the room. The far room was labeled with four stars and the word 'Exit', so there was little doubt where it lead from. The second door was guarded by yet another lich, whom waited for Barsik to stride over before speaking.

"Welcome to the 5th individual combat room, adventurer. The goal of this room is to simply make it to the exit. Do you have any questions?"

As far as instructions went, these were pretty simple, and Barsik couldn't think of anything to ask the undead.

"Then you may proceed," It informed him, and stepped aside. Barsik entered the next room.

* * *

The room Barsik entered was about 2.5 meters high, dark and musty. He could detect the faint coppery smell of blood on the air, and could barely make out the cobblestone pathway from the minimal light supplied by lit torches on either side of a door on the other side of the room, perhaps 4 meters away. If he were acting more casually, Barsik may have laughed and muttered that it was a very intentional change in mood, but as he closed the door behind him (or perhaps a bit before), he changed. Now there stood a seasoned veteran of ironclad will and indomitable spirit that could strive to come out ahead in trials of life and death. This persona had been built from within a handful of parties and hundreds of encounters. Most recently his last 8 years had been spent building and maintaining his warrior's edge with _Berserk_, simultaneously knowing and coming to trust similar states of mind in his other colleagues. His was not the kind of focus that would allow an advantage to be lost, or a warning to go without notice.

Tentatively, Barsik stepped forward, making not a sound after the door shut behind him, but also picking his medium-range shortsword from among his standard weapons and reaching forward. After a few steps towards the center of the room, his focused senses began to pick up many light scratching sounds growing steadily louder. This, as sure as the smell of bile, brought one image to mind: Sewers.

Cursing under his breath, Barsik immediately changed course. He returned to one wall, and ripped open a jug of long-burning oil from his pack, pouring it liberally in an arc around himself. He struck his flint and steel with practiced ease as he started to feel a physical presence forming around him.

The floor burned wildly, and the room was set alight like windows suddenly thrown open, bringing in the sun and with it warmth. Warmth...though his feet could feel none of the fire through the enchanted boots that he wore, Barsik fought to ignore the rising heat and flickering flames now surrounding him. What gave easy rise to forgetfulness were the screeches and loud scrambling now rampant in the area around him. Barsik tied his sheath steadfast against his shortsword and began swinging rapidly at the rodents that had begun to crawl up his armored apparel. The rats fought fervently to climb up, seeing his body as immediate refuge from the fires, if not a snack to feed their undying hunger.

Barsik was winning the fight against the rats attempting to invade his body when he was suddenly alerted by a scratching feeling along his neck. Only his warrior's quickness allowed him to swipe the creature aside before it could do any damage, and Barsik realized his mistake: unlike in many typical sewers, the rats could _climb_ these walls. He immediately made his decision, and dashed through the flames that he himself had started, managing to knock off or burn most of the furry monsters in the process. He was a stride from the door when his senses alerted him to a medium-sized creature racing to cut him off. Cursing, Barsik ripped off the cording holding his sheath in place, and drew his sword, making a downward strike against the being that would rend lesser armors and break human bones. The giant rat's head slumped off of its shoulders, and its momentum was easily diverted. Barsik did not waste time, and quickly entered through the next door, slamming it behind him.

* * *

Before he would allow himself a moment to return his weapon and brush off any rats still clinging on, Barsik surveyed his new environment. It was too much to hope for that his challenge was complete, as the room around him was still cobblestone-tiled and poorly lit. Barsik did a small amount of tidying himself up after the previous encounter, and focused his senses on the area around him. There was more firelight here than in the previous room, but he still cursed coming to rely on his teammates for a continual-light spell or item. If he ever did get separated in a real-world adventure, it would benefit him well to have such an item, and he could surely afford it.

There were faint dripping sounds, and some water droplets sporadically fell from the ceiling. _'They really pulled out all the stops on this one...'_ he thought, realizing he was still within the Adventurer's Guild. The walls were separated by about 5 meters, and a ways ahead he spotted a sharp corner. Closer, there was a heavy wooden door set against the wall. _'__Seems quiet enough...'_

Barsik re-equipped himself with the shortsword and silently advanced. He listened at the wooden door, and heard muddled voices and some light banging. The question arose: _'Should I pass by this door and risk being flanked, or attack and risk drawing attention and unnecessary danger?'_ The important question to consider, then, was his objective. The lich had told him all he needed to do was find an exit...but that still left his options open to interpretation. Barsik decided to attempt a covert escape, and continued past the door silently. He peeked around the bend to see the hallway continued, and there was another corner some distance further. He continued down that passageway.

Suddenly he began to hear the echo of steps taken in metal full-plate armor. What's more, it started coming from both ahead _and_ behind him. _'Trap!'_ he cursed silently. _'What to do...'_ Barsik turned and charged back the way he had come, closing the distance fast at the cost of some noise. He cleared the corner and saw his foe 2 meters ahead of him.

They were large and somewhat taller than Barsik. Their full-plate armor, 2-meter tall halberds, and demeanor gave off the impression of 'guards on patrol'. Barsik saw short tusks protruding from the helmets of each creature, identifying them as Boarmen. On sight, the demihumans announced a cry and charged the adventurer.

Barsik had only a moment to decide how he would react to the charging creatures, but to his warrior's calm mind and experience, that was more than enough time. He drew back a step, reached into his bag, and threw a certain handmade item directly downward. A moment before it contacted the ground, he shut his eyes tight, and still felt some of the blinding flash and headache produced by his own teammate's blend of flash powder. Opening his eyes, Barsik saw the Boarmen temporarily hesitating in confusion, and he aimed his strike.

His shortsword stabbed through one of the Boarmen's armor, tactfully slipping between two plates of metal and thrusting upwards. The armored creature's eyes bulged, and Barsik shifted his blade side to side within the chest cavity for good measure, adding the creature's own weight to the force as it lost its ability to stand. Just then, the boarman's partner seemed to gather an idea of what was happening, and swung wildly with his halberd. Barsik easily moved out of the weapon's reach, and took advantage of the opening provided. He charged his second assailant, tackling the confused boarman onto the ground. Taking advantage of his enemy's confused state, Barsik withdrew a dagger from his pack and drove it down through the visor of the larger creature.

Though his current enemies had ceased their struggles, Barsik could hear pounding footsteps approaching from around the corner. He made a quick decision, and wrenched his sword and dagger from the fallen opponents. With a few extra seconds, he dug his hand through the opening in the armor and into the wounded flesh below, tearing out a large chunk of flesh with the strength of someone near the peak of humanity. He allowed small pieces of meat and a profuse flow of blood to follow him as he hurried to the wooden door from before, entering and leaving the door slightly ajar as he made his temporary escape.

The room he had passed earlier turned out to be a small break room used for eating meals in between shifts, as evidence by half a carcass sitting in a makeshift frozen pit, and an extinguished fire pit nearby, chimney and all. Thankfully, it was not only empty but also had no other exits. _'This will do nicely...'_ Barsik thought. He crouched just around the inside of the door and readied his weapons, including his secondary weapon, a handle attached to a short chain and metal ball with small spikes protruding. He also pulled out a small vial containing a toxin that he was careful not to break before it was needed.

There was a shout as the next batch of guards discovered their fallen comrades. "He went that way, and he's wounded," one shouted, in a deep gravelly voice. The first boarman pushed through the doorway, and was immediately greeted by the small vial thrown directly at his helmet. "Aggrrhhh!" he screamed, as acid splashed through his visor. The boarman felt he suddenly had more important things to focus on than the man in front of him, and he hardly took notice when Barsik gripped the two-handed halberd and yanked the guard forward. Now within close-quarters distance, Barsik drove the dagger once more into the helmet of a boarman, immediately collapsing his foe to their knees. The second guard charged forward, but didn't have enough room to swing in the doorway opening. Barsik dropped his dagger, still lodged within the head of the third fallen boarman, and swung his shortsword in a downward strike that he tactically allowed the final boarman to deflect with the shaft of his halberd.

The boarman took a step back, but noticed he had not been injured, and thus more bravely stepped forward, hoping to fight his way into the larger space of the room. Barsik allowed a small grin at his opponent's folly, dropping his second weapon and gripping his true backup. He whipped the ball-and-chain in a downward strike, and the boarman attempted to deflect again with the shaft of his halberd. This time, however, the chain simply wrapped around the shaft, and the spiked ball made a dual-crunching noise as it collided with the guard's helmet. This noise was produced not only by the denting of the helmet, but also from crushing the bone of the skull underneath.

In grim satisfaction, Barsik cleaned what he could of his weapons, taking advantage of some of the clean water available in the room to refresh himself and clean off most of the blood and other fluids on himself and his weapons. There were no other sounds from the hallway, and he advanced past where he had previously turned around, spotting another doorway at the end of a long tunnel. He advanced towards the door, not sensing anything, but not wanting to will the dangers to be over if they weren't. Diligently, he spotted a strange yellow substance on the ceiling just in front of him before he stepped under it. Barsik grabbed one of the torches from the wall, and held it upwards to get a closer look.

The yellow mold was still, until it wasn't. In a convulsing movement, it launched a piece of itself at Barsik, landing on his upper breastplate, just barely touching a small opening of skin under his chin. Even as his skin began to burn, Barsik first raked his fingers across the mold, before digging the fire into it. The yellow substance sizzled for a moment, before lighting across with flame, and falling from him. A short effort later, and the mold on the ceiling was aflame as well, dying off and crumbling to the floor. Though he prided himself in staying calm under any scenario, even the hardened adventurer Barsik was reeling from this close call, and had to take a moment to gather himself before checking at the door ahead.

**AN: Okay that's it for the first batch of chapters. How'd I do? Leave me a review to inspire me to write more, or tell me how terrible and uninspiring I am, whatever you think...**


	6. Chapter 6

Barsik cautiously listened at the door, and heard nothing. Hesitantly he pushed it open, and was relieved to see a patiently waiting lich standing beside a door labeled with six stars. "You're not a part of the challenge, are you?" Barsik joked, still watching somewhat carefully as he slowly drew through the doorway.

Surprisingly, the lich actually let out a light chuckle. "Heh, no, and congratulations on completing the 5th room. If you wish, you may be granted passage to the Adventurer's Guild individual combat return chambers and be fully healed, or you may continue onward to the 6th individual combat room," it responded in the standard raspy voice.

Barsik considered this, then narrowed his eyes. "There are only odd-numbered room entrances that I saw, so if I leave now…?"

"Then you must pass through the 5th room once more to be granted access to the 6th room," it replied simply.

"And what of what I heard about death being 'impossible'? It certainly felt that I was in combat to the death back there, I didn't feel anything holding back..." Barsik grumbled. With his dwindling consumables, he had to be absolutely certain that continuing onward without a full set wouldn't be unnecessarily endangering himself, though maybe competing alone like this at all was a bit on the dangerous side. _'I wonder how the others are fairing in the lower rooms...'_ Barsik thought.

"Indeed, death is impossible within these rooms," the lich stated simply, bringing Barsik back to the current conversation. "Though it may not appear so, there are certain countermeasures in place at all times to take proper precaution against death, even if it is merely to steady and revitalize an adventurer at the moment of last breath."

'_Not exactly a comforting thought...'_ Barsik considered, though it did sound like the lich was confirming what the receptionist had told him. And he both trusted Darla, as well as his own instinct, that the trials must be less dangerous than they appeared, or else they couldn't possibly be this popular or well-endorsed. "Then, ahem, I will be continuing to room six," Barsik decided.

"Then I will inform you of your task," the undead responded. It reached within its cloak and held out a green stone. It was a small, thin triangle, and could easily fit in the palm of the lich's hand. "Within this room you will need to find a stone identical to this one, and take it through the exit door with you."

'_Hmm, this should be interesting,'_ Barsik thought to himself. It was slightly more like a normal quest, to actually have an objective to consider. "Then I will advance with haste and obtain this item," Barsik announced. The lich allowed him passage, and he entered through the doorway to see what awaited him.

* * *

The change in environment was startling. At one moment he was presumably still within the Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild, and the next moment he was clearly...not. Barsik squinted and raised his hand to shield his eyes from a ray of sunshine coming through the thick overhead foliage. All around him was a thinly forested area, with nothing at all to indicate his previous surroundings. The wind was still, and a general cacophony of forest life could be heard around him. Although Barsik had spent much time adventuring in the areas around E-Rantel and thus knew the Forest of Tob quite well, this area felt unfamiliar to him.

Barsik began to closely examine the grounds around him, and it didn't take long for him to pick up on a fairly obvious set of well-worn tracks leading down a slight slope along the forest floor.

After an hour or so of following along the worn path – the footsteps and stride length appeared to be somewhat small and without shoes, indicating a race of smallish bipedal demihumans most likely – the sun began to set. Normally on a journey darkness would indicate a time to rest and make camp, but due to the dangers of forming a camp in such an unsecured location and, well, his lack of camping supplies, he continued onward. Soon Barsik's adventurer senses made him vaguely aware that he was being watched. He scoured the trees in the direction from which he could feel the gaze coming from, but there was nothing to see along the forest floor. A moment later, though perhaps too late, he noticed glittering eyes in the branches of a tree he was nearly under…

The large cat leapt from its hiding place and made a swipe at Barsik's face. Lightning-fast adventurer reflexes matched against the speed of the paw, and he managed to pull back in time with only a light scrape along his cheek. Barsik still felt that he did not have enough room to wield his main weapon, his great sword, and instead drew his shortsword once more, staring the beast down. It would only entice the large feline if he fled, and besides Barsik felt he was more than a match for the animal, even if it was abnormally large for a cougar.

The great cat growled, and lunged once more, deftly twisting to the side even as Barsik was sure his sword would strike the creature a mortal wound. Its claws did not pierce through Barsik's reinforced armor, though it left small tears in leather as the blow knocked him to the side. Barsik felt the wind leave his lungs, and he wheezed to draw in breath as he swung his weapon arm to fend off the wild animal's advances. To lean forward Barsik pushed against the grass behind him, only for his arm to travel unimpeded through the ground. Around it, there were leaves and sticks scattered in a somewhat conspicuous clump. _'__What the...'_ Barsik wondered for a fraction of a moment, before refocusing on the enemy in front of him and swinging. The cougar pulled back. After tasting the tip of Barsik's blade, a light flow of blood now descended down its face. Immediately, the Beast changed tactics and lunged for his unprotected legs.

Barsik kicked upward with strength somewhat near the pinnacle of human ability, and met the cat's oncoming strike with the full force of his metal greave.

Needless to say, the beast was stunned, and backed up. Instead of chasing, Barsik drove himself to his feet and walked a half circle retreat away, testing the ground before each step. _'If __that's what I think it is.__..'_

The cougar regained its composure, and snarled at the apparently retreating adventurer. It bounded forward a few paces, only to stop suddenly and yip in surprise. The ground collapsed beneath it, and suddenly the beast disappeared from sight.

Barsik took a few steps forward, and confirmed what he'd suspected. Below him was a pit of sharpened branches and wooden spikes, pointed upward to any unwitting traveler's peril. It was a simple design, but very effective for any but the most well armored or agile opponents, and Barsik was glad he hadn't been the subject of its trigger. At his feet lay his prior aggressor, impaled in a dozen areas and staring blankly forward. Whip-crack went its tail, and the beast was done.

Barsik was glad his battle was over, though he felt that the stress of these constant combats had begun to get to him. He took careful account of his surroundings, before walking a dozen meters away and removing a small meal from his pack. He ate in silence, and soon after resumed following the trail of diminutive footsteps. As he walked onward in the darkening light, he speculated as to what he'd find at the end of the path.


	7. Chapter 7

Ingor kicked at the ground in casual boredom, then turned his gaze back up at the trees surrounding his village. Though he had been created for more or less this exact purpose, it was still somewhat discouraging that opponents would arrive so infrequently, and even then on only a handful of occasions had they actually been successful in raiding his village. Though many of these 'adventurers' had passed through these lands over the days and weeks that he had been around to judge their race, Ingor had been relatively lucky to have only incurred some minor scrapes and injuries during the lot of their assaults. Many of his brethren, and indeed occasionally most, had fallen every now and again, but Master Mare was always available to replenish their numbers with additional 'summons'. Although Ingor prided himself in his various healed wounds and memories of hard-fought combat from many instances before, it was still a bore to man the watch near one of the boarders of his tribe's lands.

Here, there was always a light rushing of water over rocks to be heard. Ingor knew that some short distance away lay the cave that served as the Village's Strongest's home. on the shore of where the river joined its larger body of water. Much closer, screams could be heard, but these were nearly as calming as the flow of water. _'They must be having a riot in there...'_ thought Ingor, who gazed up at the sky in an attempt to gauge the time. It would only be an hour or two more before the next shift would take over and he might have a chance to play with their 'toys'…

A shift in the shadows from some distance away caught Ingor's eyes. He looked fully to the side, and saw one of his brother guards lying in what may have been a pool of his own blood, some dozens of meters away. _'Raise the alarms!'_ Ingor thought to shout, but a moment before it left his lips he began to hear the bells echoing their alarm without needing his warning. He knew not fear, and dashed to the location of his fallen comrade. From this vantage, he saw several more bodies scattered around another entrance to the village, and a profuse trail of blood lead not far away to a side alley that ran between several structures. _'This one's got my name on it'_ he thought in glee, and pursued the damaged prey. He rounded the corner and drew his blade to battle with the foe in front of him, though curiously the blade did not come. He glanced down and was confused to see his arm too far away from him, lying on the ground. He looked up to wonder at the bleeding foe he'd been chasing, but his head seemed to disobey his instructions as well, and did several somersaults before landing firmly on the ground. "That makes five..." the goblin thought he heard a voice mutter, and then there was no more.

* * *

At first, Barsik had been hesitant near the edge of the village. _'I'd understand this from an old Adventurer's Guild perspective, but aren't we supposed to help demihumans now?'_ he'd wondered, as he saw the goblins on watch and some occasionally wandering from one simple structure to the next within the village. Still, the skulls that several of them carried on their hips looked suspicious. The final straw had been a screaming and struggling human woman being drug out of one of the huts in chains, and brought into the largest central structure. No, these were clearly the monsters of old, untouched by the new domestication and friendly relations the Sorcerous Kingdom had become known for.

He'd advanced quietly, not really trained for stealth, but nonetheless talented after on-the-job practical training from a number of missions. There had been somewhat weak adversaries in his first trek into the village, though that was only by his standards. They were definitely somewhat strong compared to standard goblins. As Barsik strove to approach the largest structure in secret, he heard a clear alarm go off, and cursed at his insufficient covert tactics. Moments later he heard scrambling feet behind him, no doubt following the trail that he had made. He quickly ended the straggling guard, and counted off one more fallen demihuman.

There was a commotion of hustle and bustle as the camp raised its awareness level of his presence, but Barsik was glad that they weren't organized enough to immediately know where the source of the problem lay, and before they had caught up with him, he'd ended the blood trail at the last goblin he'd killed and snuck onward. Barsik had finally begun to wield his great sword, and was thankful for the more open space. With the hulking weapon, he approached the back end of his goal structure, and simply sundered the back walls to the building, relying on the chaos around him to cover up the sound, and entering once he'd enlarged a hole large enough for himself to pass through.

* * *

The room he'd entered into appeared to be a small, yet somewhat luxuriously (depending on who was judging) decorated bedroom. On the ground lay a mud-and-leaves bed canvased with some pelts. Around the room were scattered bones, especially many trophy skulls of various species, including human. There were blood stains not well cleaned up after, and a small assortment of blades and blunt weapons stored in one corner. Most astonishingly, however, was the out-of-place outside-facing door on one wall, apparently facing outward where Barsik knew there was no exit. Clarity donned on Barsik's face as he read the word 'Exit' printed nicely across the door, with six stars below it. He'd found the exit, now he just needed the green stone that the lich had shown him earlier.

Barsik slowly slid open the more primitive inward-facing door, and peeked out into a dirt hallway. Almost immediately in front of him was a small goblin girl bearing a first startled, then frightened expression. This particular elf wasn't wearing any skulls or other menace-indicating attire, but still…

Barsik made his choice, and stabbed the goblin's throat out before it could call for help. It felt a bit strange to him that hours earlier he'd been in a country with friendly relations to most demihumans and now he was acting like he had in the old days, but he pushed the thought aside.

There were a few other doors in the hallway presumably leading to other rooms, but there was also a noise coming from around the corner that brought Barsik's immediate attention. Weeping, and a harsh voice shouting out commands were apparent, and Barsik chose to investigate these first. Peeking around the corner, he saw a few more guard-goblins taking orders from a lean one wearing a large skull over his head. From the skull protruded two large white horns, and the faint glow of it made Barsik weary. On the floor several meters away were some battered human bodies that did not appear to have life in them, but near the fallen ones there was a woman in chains weeping softly. Around her neck she wore a familiar item, the triangular stone which was Barsik's aim. He only needed to retrieve it and…

Just then the lean goblin spun around, apparently sensing Barsik's presence. He shouted to the guards, and they began to charge Barsik. He fought them off with his sword for a few seconds, before retreating around the corner of the hallway. Expecting Barsik to keep retreating, the goblins advanced, only to be taken by surprise when Barsik immediately re-engaged as they rounded the bend. The guards did not last long, and soon Barsik crept around the corner once more.

The lean goblin was focusing intently at him as soon as he peered around the corner, and Barsik had a moment to pull back before a bolt of electricity shot towards where he had been standing, appearing to come from the skull headpiece that the creature wore. Alarmed, Barsik inched back further, and attempted to draw up a plan. _'This guy's no joke of a caster...hmm. If I try to sneak around the building or delay, he'll just gather more guards and surround the place. I wonder how long he has to wait in between casts...'_ then Barsik got an idea. He took a moment and dug out a crater of a wound from the back of one of the fallen armored guards. Then he sheathed his sword, and stuck it through the wound he'd just created. Using an inordinate amount of strength, the adventurer leveraged his grip on his shortsword to lift the lifeless body the better part of a meter in front of him. The goblin was mostly covered in armor, and he hoped that would be enough to fool the other for a moment's decision.

Barsik walked forward a little more noisily, and stuck his decoy out in front of him, around the bend. Almost immediately a large fireball engulfed the hung figure, and the smell of charred flesh enveloped the room. Barsik flung his sword aside and charged the caster, drawing his primary great sword with practiced ease. He swung at the goblin just as it recognized its danger enough to draw back, and scored a glancing blow on the headpiece it was wearing.

"My horn!" the goblin bellowed, clutching at the empty space where Barsik had fragmented the bone. The item immediately lost its glow, and the goblin's grotesque snarl turned to an expression of fear. Barsik took no time wondering if the creature was no longer a threat, and beheaded the goblin a moment later. Only then did Barsik get a better look around the room.

The large space was basically a larger reflection of the first room he'd stepped through, which he suspected to be the now-dead chief's quarters. Scattered around the room were only barely cleaned up blood stains and a variety of bones, clearly some of them human. There were chained human corpses along the walls, mostly women. The one living woman, wearing the stone he sought around her neck, was still weeping lightly. She was kneeling directly behind where the goblin had stood, as if he had intended on stopping Barsik from reaching her.

Barsik could sense no enemies approaching for the time being, and he struck down at the chains attached to the woman's hands and ankles. Barsik stooped down to take the grieving woman's hands, and spent a moment attempting to comfort her. "The ones in here are all dead," he reassured, "I don't know how many more are out there, but I know another way out of here. Can you walk enough to follow me a short distance?"

The woman finally looked up, and Barsik was startled at her apparent beauty. She looked delicate, but still well-toned, under her smooth, unblemished skin. Her eyes sparkled with her tears, or perhaps more…

Barsik was truly taken aback by her beauty, and rebuked himself that he should have turned his attention away for a moment from listening to their surroundings in case of some returning goblins. He went to turn away, but found that even that seemed impossible. He couldn't seem to find the willingness within himself to continue guiding this woman to her escape, but thankfully she seemed able to move about now that the chains had been cut off. The woman got up, and even produced a dagger to defend them from any intruders. Her legs flowed long and slender under her elevated body, but suddenly they didn't seem like legs. _'Could it be...a tail?'_ Barsik wondered, thoughtfully. He had begun to feel a slight burning sensation on one of his fingers, under where he kept that ring he'd been given. It was difficult to focus much, though he did want to scratch at the burning sensation on his finger. The woman brushed aside her hair, and stepped up to the adventurer. _'But is it hair? It almost looks alive… '_ Barsik thought. The ring he wore began to burn hotter, and he felt a serious urge to pull it off or otherwise put out the fiery feeling, but instead he locked his glaze against the woman's eyes as she pulled her dagger forward. At first her eyes appeared a light blue hue, but then Barsik doubted himself and was sure the eyes formed a contiguous deep red that flowed through the sclera to the dark red irises. _'She's beautiful. Too beautiful...'_ Just as the 'woman' drove her dagger between a gap in the side of Barsik's medium-weight armor, the ring grew hotter still, and sent a sudden flash through Barsik's body. Before him suddenly was a creature with the lower body of a snake, the upper body of a woman, and small snakes writhing around her head instead of hair. Around her neck still lay the stone that Barsik had been sent to retrieve.

Barsik gasped, and gave the creature a sudden guantleted backhand, having dropped his great sword at some point. The gorgon hissed as she twisted her knife within his body, and Barsik felt something that he intuitively knew to be mortal damage within some of his organs. He stepped backwards, and slipped on the growing pool of blood from the forgotten goblin whom he had slain minutes before. Reaching forward, he ripped the stone and chain from the snake-woman's neck as he dropped to the ground. She chose to follow him, digging the dagger again through his pierced lung and other internal organs. Barsik spit blood into his adversary's eyes, and swung the strongest elbow he could manage into her fierce gaze. She seemed stunned for a moment, and Barsik channeled one of his skills to gain temporary inner strength, despite his fatal injuries. He dropped the traveling pack that she still clung onto, and raced for what he panically hoped would be the door to his salvation. Barsik felt his strength once more leaving his body as he neared the door with the word 'Exit' inscribed into it, and he reached out to touch the handle, then collapsed to his knees.

**AN: Ahhh sorry for the cliffhanger! (Not) Though, you shouldn't have to wait too long because chapter 8 should be coming along soon. How have you enjoyed reading about Barsik's first-time run though in the Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer Guild's individual combat rooms? Leave a review and let me know if there's something I should work on, or something you liked :).**


	8. Chapter 8

There was a quiet place, with a creek running by some trees and a sky bright in sunset. All around him lay pits, and as he looked closer he could see each one filled with green triangular stones. He tried to move, but there were chains holding his ankles to place. _"Oh my..."_ he heard a voice echo around him. _"Hoh, this one actually made it through. Perhaps he should be of some interest to Lord Demiurge…"_ he heard a raspy voice near him. Looking up, he could see a cougar gazing grimly at him. But it walked away, and after a time Barsik felt tired and went to sleep on the grassy slope.

Barsik awoke with a start, gazing at a very different environment. Around the room he saw stone walls and plentiful lighting coming from _continual light_ torches. "Barsik, Barsik," a voice called to him, and he looked down to see Arkine kneeling in front of him. "You're finally awake, you had us worried."

"Where...am I?" he wondered. He recognized the familiar stone and lighting. "The Guild..."

"Where the hell else would we be?" Gord could be heard to one side. Even in Barsik's half-shocked state he could recognize the agitation in his teammate's voice.

"What happened?" he asked, after taking a moment to calm down and rationalize that he was safely back at the guild with the rest of his party.

"We all returned here one at a time after finishing in the combat rooms..." Arkine informed him. "You were the last to finish by a while, how far did you get? Never mind, we were a bit curious so we checked for ourselves...nice going by the way." Arkine's eyes lowered slightly and Barsik followed them to his adventurer's plate, which had a brand new '6' in the individual combat room column.

"I don't even remember getting out," he admitted.

"Must've been rough," Rane commented. He seemed alright, it was only Gord that acted like he was in a bad mood.

Barsik made to check his weaponry, and found that all his usual equipment was back to its proper place, and nothing was missing but the few consumables he remembered using within the combat rooms. Which reminded him… "Rane, by the way, I gotta say that flash powder you gave me really did the trick. Practically blinded me too, and I was ready for it."

"Don't mention it, I'll make sure to make some more tonight, though I'm looking forward to a real quest so that money won't be so tight..."

"Relax," Barsik cautioned his teammate. "If you have enough material to make me another that'd be great, but it shouldn't be too long before we can get an advance for our first quest with the new guild anyway, so it's no sweat. Anyway, how'd you guys do?"

"Got through the 4th room, though giving the 5th one a try nearly killed me," said Rane, holding up his own plate to show the new inscribed '4'.

"I probably coulda made it past the 4th, but I fucked up in the middle of combat," Arkine admitted. Her plate had a '3' on it to show she'd made it past the 3rd combat room, which in Barsik's opinion was honestly fine given that she was mainly a back-liner. Still, he imagined it would probably be a sore subject if she was a room behind everyone else, so he let it go and turned to the last party member.

"Well?" Barsik prodded, since the other didn't seem like he was going to speak up.

"Alright fine, I fucked up harder than she did and got stuck in a trap in the first combat room we entered. Happy?" Gord replied grumpily. His plate still didn't have anything in the individual combat room column, since he evidently hadn't completed any rooms.

"Honestly that's not a big deal, Gord." As the party leader, it naturally fell on Barsik to diffuse the argument. "None of us are really used to going at unknown situations individually, and we usually have Rane to count on for scouting out traps. We all have our strengths...we all know who can front-line the easiest, and no one swings a hammer like you..."

"Oh stop it you're going to make me blush," Gord butted in sarcastically, but he'd lost some of his gloomy expression. "Still, since I'm not ranked and I'm sure we're all too tired to give anything another go today, you guys are going to need to try the first party room without me tomorrow, or wait..."

"There's no way we're going into party combat without you, Gord, you dumbass. Who's supposed to tank the enemy's charge, me? Besides...I wouldn't mind giving the next room a try tomorrow, gotta see how bad it can get, right?" Barsik finished. There were nods from Rane and Arkine.

"Alright fine, we'll all give the individual rooms another go tomorrow," Gord agreed. "I would just start at room one like a newbie, but like you said before having a low enough individual combat rank will weigh down the party average anyway, so I'll just have to kick ass tomorrow and pay attention to any obvious traps."

"Hmm well I'll tell you guys about rooms five and six, but first I want to hear about the lower rooms. What was room three like?" Barsik asked his party.

"A spire," replied Rane.

"A dungeon," said Arkine.

"A labyrinth," grumbled Gord.

'_So there are multiple possible rooms at every level'_ Barsik concluded. _'That makes sense, they wouldn't want someone being able to ask others exactly what to expect before they entered for themselves...'_ He told them his conclusion, and began sharing some of his own experiences. Even if room levels wouldn't be the same each time, they probably had reoccurring themes that would be helpful to cross-examine.

* * *

It was not yet dusk, and _Berserk_ decided to spend some time exploring the new E-Rantel before turning in for the night. After asking some directions from other adventurers within the guild hall, they made their way toward the new-construction district, where a lot of building had been going on. The group walked for several minutes, and as they walked Barsik felt himself once more needing to re-adjust to the strange city. Demihumans of a variety of races ambled about, walked into and out of shops, and even sold their wares from some of the stalls that hawked food and other goods. Even more important to the adventurer, though, were the patrols of city guards that were never far from sight. _'It's no wonder there ain't a lot of crime around here. I wouldn't want to steal a spoon from a baby with one of those monsters not 20 meters away from me'_ he thought, goggling the seemingly ever-present death knights that made up the majority of the city guard. There weren't just death knights, though. Undead liches were also present in some numbers, as were humans and demihumans wearing dazzling Runecraft armor. Many of the human guard members seemed a bit disorderly for regular guards, and kind of...strong. Barsik finally picked one such group out, and walked up to them.

"You're adventurers, right?" he asked the one with a spear held casually over his back, waiting while his partner seemed to chat up a merchant.

"That's right, just like yourself, or I'll eat my spear for breakfast," the other responded with a chuckle.

Barsik grinned back, glad that the adventurer seemed happy to talk, as he had much to learn. "Why do they have you on patrol duty? Has the work around here dried up so much it's hard to get a better gig?"

"Heh, you must be new around here then aren't 'cha?" the city guard asked. Barsik nodded. "Makes sense, you guys are looking around like wide-eyed children on their first trip to the city. Actually the jobs around here are great and I'm having the best time of my career. But this here patrol duty is just Archie and I's," his partner then perked up and waved at hearing the name drop, "...way of fulfilling the community service requirements. I'm sure you've heard about them?"

"Yes, we've heard that some pretty great benefits can be had from this 'community service', though we don't actually know much about what it entails," Barsik admitted.

"Oh, well it can be any number of things, but Archie and I are somewhat new to the area, so we were happy to take up patrol duty for a day to give ourselves our own personal tour of the city."

Barsik's eyes lit up. "Funny you should mention a tour of the town, my party, we're _Berserk_ by the way, is looking for any interesting changes to the city, and we were heading over to the new-construction district to check it out."

"Oh yeah, we passed through that area a bit ago. It's a wonder, you should definitely go check out the orphanage they're working on, it's a beaut," just then his partner waved him over to the conversation, and he excused himself.

"An orphanage under construction..." Rane restated, thoughtfully. Indeed, it did seem strange. As far as Barsik could recall, he'd never heard of anyone building a brand new orphanage. They were always re-purposed taverns or city buildings that had outlived their use.

"Guess so. Let's go see what it's all about," Barsik decided, and the party advanced.

* * *

From a hill slightly elevated above the construction site, _Berserk_ watched the laborers work. A few death knights and stone golems were at work carrying large slabs of stone to specified locations, and a team of dwarves, humans, and liches seemed to be directing them. There were also some humans that gave off the obvious aura of 'adventurers' performing some of the manual labor, no doubt fulfilling their own 'community service' requirements. A bit off to the side, a group of children were swinging picks and hammers at large chunks of stone to break it up. _'Child laborers?'_ was Barsik's first thought, but then seeing that not all of the children were working, and the doting caregivers among them, made it clear that they were probably orphans being looked after yet being allowed to contribute to the project of building their new quarters.

The structure itself was unlike any the party _Berserk_ had ever seen before. It stood two tall stories high and enormously wide, formed of many large contiguous slabs of stone neatly fitted together. They could see through a gap in the walls a long dug out channel in the hardened rock floor, combining from several rooms and leading off of the property, where it was clear that round metal beams were inlaid within the channels. Outside the main structure, there was a variety of simple metal frames and other small structures gathered around a fenced-in area, and their purpose was obvious. Many children were already playing around them-walking and swinging from one structure, or pretending to cook and clean in another. Some toys and wooden horses were scattered around the area as well. It was as if a noble had gone out of their way to make a place of luxury for their growing child, except that in the place of noble children were ones in commoner clothing, shouting and scurrying about.

The biggest wonder was the second floor of the main structure. Only half of it appeared to have walls, and the other half consisted of _grass, plants, and even several large trees_. Around the 'outdoors' section of the second floor was a thick fence, likely in place to stop anyone from forgetting they were above the ground and stepping off of the building.

"Erm...woof. May I help you?" a voice asked from behind them. Startled, all of _Berserk_ turned around to see a wonderfully dressed...creature...standing beside them and gazing at them in curiosity. The being seemed to have the clothes, body, and posture of a noble-woman with a taste for rather frilly gold, white, and black attire...until you got to the head. Above a large gold-brown bow rested the head of a dog, with eyes covered in black cloth. "Greetings, I am Pestonya Shortcake Wanko, headmistress of this soon-to-be orphanage, pleased to meet your acquaintance. Erm...woof."

Barsik was at once on edge at being snuck up upon by the strange demihuman, but he could sense no hostility and gradually let his guard back down. "Hello, we are _Berserk_, the pleasure's ours. We were just admiring the view of your new orphanage. If you don't mind me asking I think we're all wondering...what's with the plant life on the roof?"

The dog-woman seemed to smile. "Well of course we couldn't put it on the first floor, it wouldn't get any sun. Besides, don't you think the sheep, chickens, and cows will enjoy the view? Woof."

Barsik chose to ignore the 'woof's and focused on the obvious. "You're going to have farm animals grazing...on the roof?" he asked, incredulously. "I don't doubt there's enough space on there for a few, but why?"

She seemed to think he was asking why have animals at all, and responded simply, "Well of course Lord Ainz declared that it would be in the best interest of the orphans we take in to learn from a variety of professions before they turn adults, so that they can chose the one that best fits their developed skills set. As you see over there some of the children aspire to be construction site workers and managers, and they are developing the muscles and understanding required to grow up to that position. Additionally, the current education programs include training in farming, use of magic, architecture, history, mathematics, trade, and reading and writing of course. The animals will help those that are interested get used to farming, as well as producing some of the food for the rest of the orphans. There will be a mill and some grain fields as well. Erm...woof."

"This was all the Sorcerer King's idea?" Barsik asked in wonder. Of course, it made sense that the being responsible for all of the other rule-shattering societal changes would also be responsible for this remarkable orphanage. "And what of those metal rods leaving the building?" he asked.

"Ah, woof, those are the utility lines for the orphanage. They will connect to the rest of this district's new water and sewer lines, which will pump water to each building and remove waste by the same process. It will thus be possible to increase the population density of individual buildings as well as entire city districts. Erm...woof," she finished.

"Every building...even an orphanage...needs its own water and sewer lines? How many children are supposed to live here?"

"Oh, about 1,000. There will be other orphanages build in this district as well, so it should be about 10,000 in total. Erm...woof," the soon-to-be headmistress replied.

The adventurers were starstruck at the amount of children that the new system was prepared to burden itself with – though with the current and former warring around the area it was no doubt where the orphans would come from. As they pondered the scale of forethought and goodwill that the Sorcerer King must have, a small group of orphans that had spotted their observers and their overseer began to approach. Some of the children were demihumans, and it was a goblin girl that finally approached Barsik's party.

He was taken aback by a feeling of déjà vu, and it took but a moment to realize the source. _'The girl goblin from the 6th combat room...'_ he thought. As the girl approached, he fought to remember where he was and remain unguarded despite the similarities between his former adversary and the citizen of the Sorcerous Kingdom. The girl walked right up to them and asked with starry eyes, "Are you guys...adventurers?"

The girl appeared to be addressing him, so Barsik cleared his throat and answered in the affirmative.

"Then...I have a question. Bane and Erin say I can't, but I wanted to ask a real adventurer." There was a bit of snickering from behind where two other children stood, but when Barsik's gaze passed over them they quieted.

"Go on, what is it you wanted to ask?" Barsik encouraged the child in front of him.

"Can I...can I be an adventurer like you when I grow up?"

Honestly Barsik's first thought was to laugh the question off. He'd just been scolding himself for considering the goblin a monster, how could she be an adventurer, the people's defender? While Barsik waited in a moment of indecision, Arkine kneeled down to put an arm on the goblin's shoulder. "Of course. Don't let anyone make you believe differently," she told her. "Tell me, what is your name child?"

"Yenna," she responded, peering up at the mighty warriors around her.

Barsik remembered stories he'd heard of even human females being heavily harassed for entering into the adventuring field. He made his decision, and locked eyes with the goblin child.

"Young girl...you too can become an adventurer," he told her with conviction. Immediately her eyes teared up, and she hugged onto Arkine, and Barsik when he stepped forward and patted her shoulder. "If you can work hard and create within yourself the spirit of an adventurer, you don't have to listen to anyone else that says otherwise. In fact when you're a bit older and trained a bit, come see us. I'm Barsik, and we are _Berserk_. If we're still around when you're ready, I'm sure we can show you a few pointers." Barsik looked around and saw nods from his party members. The child hugged them fiercely before professing that she would indeed follow them up on their offer, and strode back to her waiting peers and overseer. As they walked away, Barsik wondered at what would become of a generation of orphans brought up with learnings and stewardship into the fields of their choice.

**AN: I know this isn't a combat-oriented chapter like some of the last few, and that's because I wanted to expand the world a little bit. I want to think about the social impact of Ainz & Co, and a large part of that is the adventurers, but they live in a broader world than just the guild too. The next chapter will definitely be a lot more action-y, but I'm curious if people were interested in hearing about some of the other changes happening in the Sorcerous Kingdom, so let me know will ya? I'm also making tentative plans to visit Yenna & Co in the future, but we'll see how that goes. For now, bye, and see you in a few days!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Berserk_ had spent the last bit of the prior evening milling around some of the rest of the new district, and it was gearing up to become a beautiful and thriving district in the years to come. After they finished their walking, they had a light meal, and turned in for the night. In the morning, they made their way back to the adventurer's guild, and once more got into the lines for individual combat rooms.

The line for room seven had no one, and room five had only a select few adventurers waiting to engage in their first combats of the day. "Well, good luck today," Barsik bid farewell to his party members, then winked at Rane in the line for room five, "try to catch up!"

Barsik's teammates also bid him good luck, though Rane had a unique way of saying it, "Up yours, I'll make my way up there just to kick your ass."

Barsik showed his plate to the lich guarding the intended door, and entered into the next stage of his individual combat adventures.

* * *

There was a long and sparsely-lit tunnel leading ahead of Barsik, ending in a barred gate. Behind him the hallway continued on for some time, with occasional doors to the right and left. _'This feels familiar...'_ he thought, then it dawned on him. "This is like the arena in the empire..." he muttered aloud. _'Then, ahead must be the battlegrounds...'_ he realized. Technically he could choose to walk either direction, but it was pretty clear that the challenge was ahead of him, and so he walked forward.

As Barsik approached the gate, it rose swiftly to reveal the sandy floor of a large arena. As he exited into the main battlegrounds, he gasped. Lining row after row of stadium stands golems were sitting down, watching him motionlessly. _'If they're my opponents, it's hopeless,'_ Barsik thought to himself. He noticed several figures up in a VIP box many floors above the ground. Among them stood out a strange man with the head of a frog and a stripped orange suit. Just then, a figure leapt out of the VIP box and dropped down dozens of meters, only to land gracefully on slightly bent legs. It didn't appear to be magic, but merely athletic ability. _'Screw the golems, I wouldn't even want to fight HIM. Wait, are those multichromatic eyes?' _Barsik began examining the creature that had fallen gracefully from such a height.

Before him stood a dark elf child wearing leather and dragon-scale armor under a well-kempt white vest embroidered in gold with the emblem of the Sorcerous Kingdom on it. "And here enters the challengerrrrr!" he announced. All around, the golems began to pound the ground with their feet, generating crashing audible and physical waves throughout the center of the arena. After several moments, a portcullis on the other end of the arena floor opened, and an undead of immense strength walked out. From its flowing cape to the obvious physical strength that it wielded, Barsik knew he didn't want to face the legendary undead alone. But from the obvious menace the undead's red eyes bore into him, it was clear that this would be his opponent. _'Whelp, this one looks tough. Time to test what I'm made of,'_ Barsik thought, as he began to activate all martial arts and hidden strength he had within him for a no-holds-barred attack on the creature before him. "And in the other corner, an undead being of inhuman strength and agility, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown..."

* * *

"...'s own creation!"

The creature made a few hard practice swings of its inhumanly large flamberge against the empty air around itself, and even being dozens of meters away Barsik could swear that he could feel the breeze from that creature's swings. Malice for the living spread out in an aura over the entire arena floor, and though the dark elf seemed unaffected, sweat began to steadily perspire across Barsik's neck and back. _'I wouldn't even want to lead my whole party into a fight against __one of these death knights__, what the hell am I doing here?'_ Barsik thought. He then accessed the martial art that allowed for greater mental fortitude, and his thoughts finally drifted from thoughts of fear to those of combat analysis. _'__That shield can't be penetrable, I'm going to have to work around it. Usually that means my ball-and-chain would work to wrap around the shield and strike his arm or other important body part__s__, but can a strike like that really harm this creature? That black cloak sure doesn't look much like armor, but from what I've heard that flowing fabric is somehow as strong as the highest grade of armors, so a piercing attack may not even damage it...then that leaves the openings in the armor. There is some gap in the helmet, usually piercing the skull is pretty damaging for anything so that's a good place to start. There are also plenty of gaps in armor along the arms, waist, and upper legs, so if I can manage to sunder his limbs hard enough it might remove their use...'_

The undead warrior had seemed content with its swings and aura of malice, but now it seemed to still and star daggers into the adventurer. Since Barsik was not moving either, it appeared that both opponents were ready for the battle. The dark elf child took initiative, and allowed 'his' booming confidence to fill the arena, "Ready, set, go!"

With a eardrum-shattering roar, the undead knight began to charge at its living foe. Barsik felt he had no way to mitigate the great being's charge, and instead strove to evade the coming assault. At first the flamberge swung wide and kissed the ground, but then it suddenly changed its momentum and swung even harder back the other direction. Barsik was forced to meet the strike with his great sword. "Impenetrable fortress!", he uttered as he timed the moment of impact…

The flamberge bounced off of the somewhat shorter sword in an echo of impact that rivaled the previous roar of battle. The death knight once again propelled its blade forward, but Barsik was a moment ahead, and he drove his weapon forward in a piercing strike toward the unguarded left thigh of his opponent.

_CLINK!_

Another resonating sound echoed the arena, as the death knight had abandoned its own strike to deftly lift its leg upwards and defend with the hard plating of its greaves. "Not even a scratch..." muttered Barsik, but he took the opportunity to advance his own aggression. He swung in a downward clockwise slash at the other foot, which was easily blocked against the flamberge's curved blade. The death knight brought over its massive shield to defend its still raised front leg from another strike. As both fighter's momentum swung wildly around the bases of their feet, Barsik put every ounce of strength he possessed into a front kick into the other being's towering shield.

"Flow acceleration!" Barsik announced, at the same moment of his strike. Time seemed to slow down to a standstill, as slowly the 'upper-tier' undead appeared to lose its one-footed balance and fall. He didn't give his opponent the grace to regain its footing, and instead swung repeatedly with all the strength he could muster. The first and second swings were again blocked by the undead, but the third caught its unguarded back thigh, and the death knight had no more ability to keep itself upright. It uttered a booming and hateful roar, as its weight, momentum, injured state, and lack of time to form a better landing position forced its knee to buckle at an obtuse angle and snap as the being fell to the arena floor. With only one good leg it crawled forward at breakneck pace, and kept the adventurer on his feet for some time, swinging its great flamberge and attempting to bash with its towering shield with the inexhaustible ambition often demonstrated by the undead. Slowly, though, Barsik found routes through the other being's defenses, and the product of his work showed in the widening streams of gore that followed the death knight as it drug itself after him. Soon after that, a shortsword lodged in one of the undead's eye sockets limited its combat ability even further, as Barsik was then able to unleash a series of unseen slashes against the overcome opponent. The battle raged on for a few moments further, but when it became exceedingly clear that even the undead's relentless pursuit of Barsik was slowing down to a crawl, the fight finally appeared to be over.

* * *

Rane was, put simply, having the time of his life. _'It's been too long...'_ he thought to himself, doing a barrel roll to land in a crouched position, then firing off several arrows in succession at his approaching foes. It was 'cool guy move #5', and he followed it up quickly with moves 4 and 11. If one were to watch his seemingly wasted additional movements, they may begin to wonder how he had gotten to be such an experienced adventurer with such a silly fighting style. Put simply, that was actually the problem. _'Ahhh, I wish they allowed me to do this type of thing on real missions...'_ Rane kept thinking. He chucked a small but high-yielding vial of oil at a charging ogre, then fired a flaming arrow at its form, confidently closing his eyes before taking the shot. From just behind the now-bellowing ogre charged two more goblins, and with them so close Rane chose to use one of his personal favorite attacks, leaping wildly backwards and releasing two midair shots in immediate succession, before landing on his back a meter further away. Naturally, the goblins dropped after each suffering skull-shattering arrows to the head.

"Think that was the last of them?" Rane asked his ward.

"Hmm, I think one more wave should do it," Bjorn responded without any particular concern apparent on his voice. Rane's mission for room 5 had been to guard this man from three waves of foes approaching from the line of forest stretching out in front of them, though for 'Bjorn''s part, he seemed indifferent to whether or not Rane succeeded. Even so, the ward did occasionally let out "ooh"s and "ahh"s at some of Rane's flashier moves, even if his heart was difficult to move fully.

As the momentary peace continued, Rane reflected on what felt like his nearly forgotten style of fighting. _'It must have been many years since I've been able to fight like this, in a real battle,'_ he thought. _'Ever since I left that party for greater heights, my teammates have always insisted on a more conservative fighting style. I get why they're not particularly fond of all the showboating, and even I don't understand it really, but it always felt like this was really how I was meant to fight..."_ Just then, a horn sounded for the third time in less than an hour, and Rane knew that it was time for the final wave. He grinned, and simultaneously notched three arrows to start things off.

* * *

_CRASH_

_SMACK_

_CRUNCH_

Arkine's staff once again dented lesser armor, and she pushed the dying creature aside even as the next made its way around it. She continued to unleash powerful strikes against her foes, who didn't seem able to compete with the longer range of her staff. The molemen creatures seemed to have strong claws and jaws, but her spells kept many of them too far away to enter melee range at all, and even when they did they couldn't get close enough to injure her too badly. Her body, reinforced with 'lesser strength' and a few other body-reinforcement magics, deftly kicked aside the last of the diminutive creatures. The momentary pause in battle allowed for her to catch her breath and evaluate her current state. She chugged a minor healing potion to alleviate her few cuts and bruises. _'Hmm, I feel like I've used about half of my mana so far on reinforcement and long-range attacks. That doesn't bode well for getting all the way to and past room 4, but I should be fine to finish this one at least.'_ She reflected. Considering the limited duration of 'lesser strength' and 'lesser agility', she wiped a bit of the gore off of her staff and advanced onward.

The hallway beyond led on for some distance, and a few dozen meters away was a troop of ratmen. They each stood about a meter tall, and wielded pint-sized spears. Upon seeing her, they let out some high-pitched squeaks and began to charge. The first few were put to a stop when Arkine released a series of fireballs, but despite their smoking flesh several more crawled over and advanced forward. Arkine gritted her teeth, and met their charge with a few warding swipes of her staff. They slowed down just outside of her range, and stared at her. Thankful for their inability to see what came next, Arkine unleashed a lightning bolt at one of the now-stationary ratmen. As it sizzled and fell, the others seemed to realize that hesitation would not pay off, and they each entered her range in earnest.

Although Arkine's legs were somewhat guarded with light armor along the shins and upper thighs, she was not immune to the spearheads of the shorter creatures, and red lines began forming everywhere she could not dedicate her staff to warding off the assailants. She was beginning to feel exhausted from the series of combats that had lead up to now, but even so she could feel renewed adrenaline and what must have been a second wind in her reinforcement magics that propelled her physical combat to even greater heights. As she gritted her teeth, Arkine earnestly fought off the few attackers that had not yet fallen, eventually standing alone among bloodied corpses. She felt simultaneously weakened from her trying combats, and yet in some ways stronger than she had ever felt before after overcoming so many dangerous situations. She emptied her last healing potion, and followed the hallway to a familiar door labeled with three stars and the word 'Exit'. Upon exiting through it, the familiar countenance of a lich was before her.

"Congratulations on completing the 3rd room. If you wish, you may be granted passage to the Adventurer's Guild individual combat return chambers and be fully healed, or you may continue onward to the 4th individual combat room," it told her in its raspy voice. Arkine felt a confidence and surety in herself that would be unbecoming of leaving now, and she told the lich that she would be advancing onward. "Very well, for the next room your goal will be to simply survive," it told her. Arkine gleamed, feeling a bloodlust stronger than she had perhaps ever felt before. Her muscles ached to be used, and she was thankful she would soon have targets for that want. Eagerly, she pushed open the door marked with four stars, and awaited the trial to come.

**AN: Whew, well that's another one. Someone asked me if I had a posting schedule, and the answer's no. I was kind of hoping to be a monster and post semi-daily like a certain basementdragon is on this site, but work and other stuff has been keeping me a bit too busy over the last week. For the next two weeks I'm going on my first business trip for my new job, so I have no idea if I'm going to be busy working like a dog all day, or if I'll lock myself in my hotel room and write like a madman in my off time, so we shall see. If I have anything to say about it, I'll keep up a minimum of a weekly post. I am definitely looking forward to exploring the things to come...**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi everyone. I've made a slight retcon to Barsik's fight from last chapter, getting rid of a couple of Aura's lines introducing the death knight and declaring the battle over. Everything else stays the same, though things will be made more clear here. Thanks to the reviewers that brought up some valid concerns about some of the details of last chapter, I appreciate the analytical thought on your part to help keep me honest, I may have gotten a bit carried away :3 **

**Here's chapter 10.**

The arch-devil watched the battle below to completion with a mild boredom. It was not that he had expected a mere human to have surmounted the challenges placed before him, but that this one had caught his master's eye clearly meant something special. Demiurge considered a variety of possibilities on why such a weakling was worth the attention of his supreme master, but he was forced to conclude that his intellect had once more been overshadowed by the infallible king's supreme wisdom. _'Still, the gorgon from room 6 claimed that this adventurer saw through her __disguise__. Could it be that the level difference is too great now? Perhaps it was my lord's will to merely test this foolish human, only to __possibly __find him unworthy? The rest of his 'party' seemed even less worthy of attention. Oh my glorious and peerless master, why must I be ever left in the dust of your brilliance? Will there ever come the day when I am allowed to gaze upon the fruits of your mind before it is nearly too late to play my part in their coming to pass?'_

Inevitably, Demiurge was brought from his musings to focus back on the one-sided battle in the arena below. He felt a mild contempt for the human, who had too easily been walked like a proverbial dog around the arena floor. Demiurge, whose standard gear allotted him immunity to illusions below a certain level, simply watched in abject boredom as the 'illusion horror'below used the bare minimum of its strength to simply cut and swipe at the adventurer whenever the latter overextended himself, no doubt thinking that he'd won the exchange in the process. The truth was that the undead creature was completely unharmed as it projected a steadily weakening 'death knight' illusion around itself. It could be said that the illusion horror was probably only making the fight last this long for Demiurge's benefit, since he had deigned to watch the battle himself in order to personally evaluate this newcomer to the Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild. Demiurge had caught the undead's attention and was about to signal that the human should just be finished off swiftly, when something strange cut him off.

The human, Barsik, had let go of his primary weapon and dropped to one knee. This might not have seemed to be extremely unusual after the 'close' battle he'd just gone through, but Demiurge felt like there was more than simple exhaustion at play. The arch-devil's eyes sparkled as he focused on the familiar facial features of the living being below. Yes...they looked familiar because Demiurge had seen countless human beings making similar faces, most often at a certain 'farm' he prided himself in successfully managing. It was the face of abject horror, as one realized that they would soon be singing the most beautiful of songs under the unforgiving instruction of a flaying whip, or some other equally utilitarian tool of 'song' production. If nothing else, Demiurge hoped he would get to see the fruits of what the expression promised, and he delayed any consideration of calling the fight off just yet.

* * *

Barsik ached in places that did not ache very often, as indeed few sparring sessions had ever allowed for this many full-powered strikes without him, his partner, or their sparing gear giving in first. It was probably only due to the first-class and enchanted nature of his great sword that even it had survived the battle for this long. Because of the undead nature of his opponent, even as Barsik had constantly inflicted wound after wound onto its body, he never really felt like it was losing any steam, and it kept coming after him even with only one good leg. His life-long training with the sword had taught him how to connect every muscle group in his body together in a swing to fully focus the maximum strength of his musculoskeletal system, yet now he could almost feel regret as the tiring and ache could be felt in a continuous stream running from his core to the ends of each of his limbs. Also not insignificant were the minor wounds that he himself had incurred whenever he overextended too far in dealing a blow to the undead, though he did not regret the minor sacrifices he'd made to deal sundering blows to several limbs of the death knight that lay before him.

It seemed strange, but as the battle wore doggedly onward, one apparent injury seemed to grow more pronounced than the rest. It burned fiery hot, as if a result of a slashing wound. This was a bit curious, as the feeling came from under one of his gauntlets, which he had not noticed to be pierced. Moreover, something bothered him about the nature of the feeling, and despite his adrenaline-filled and battle-ready state, Barsik allowed for the reason to bubble up from his subconsciousness. _'The gorgon...that was it. I felt my finger burn yesterday when I was nearly done over by that side-stabing saboteur of a snake-woman. __But w__hy…?'_ then it occurred to him. A shutter made its way down Barsik's back, and he couldn't help but lose all focus as an unimaginable situation dawned on him. Passively, he took notice that his opponent was temporarily giving him space, as if in sudden indecision as to whether or not to pursue.

* * *

Germain Keldar had been a decent mentor to Barsik, as far as the sort went. Actually, Barsik could probably be said to have been lucky to have a mentor at all in the adventuring world. Too often, adventurers were 'capped at gold' because they weren't strong enough to push themselves past their limits, and were too contented with the mild rewards that they had the strength to earn, even if they were held back only subconsciously. But due to an unfortunate accident involving the knocking over of some kegs of beer, Barsik had 'owed' Germain a bit of service as a form of payback, and this had turned out to be very fruitful for the younger adventurer. As he assisted in tasks and on journeys in a verbal contract that ended up running for several years, he learned much from his elder, and gradually progressed to the realm of the strong in terms of adventurers of the kingdom. And after those many years, long after the years of the older man's prime, it was actually the case that Germain was one of the few adventurers to retire by choice at the end of a long career.

In retiring, Germain had bestowed upon Barsik the greatest treasure that he owned. It had been handed down from his own mentor many years prior. It was a ring imbued with the item 'Gem of True Sight'.

* * *

Horrified, Barsik realized the implications of what the burning on his finger must have meant. _'Before yesterday...I don't think I ever got a chance to properly test my mentor's gift. But if this is like yesterday, then...'_ and suddenly he could see it.

The being that now stood before Barsik was just as undead as the last, but a good deal less bulky, and far less damaged. Its face was covered by a flowing but tattered black robe, and in each hand it wielded a much simpler sword and shield, compared to the 'death knight' that Barsik had thus far fought. The aura of hatred for the living felt somehow even more authentic than before, and Barsik felt like his breath should be visible as he was filled with an immense chill. Barsik wondered what the fuck was going on with his life that alone he should have brought himself to unfriendly terms with the being that existed before him, and only after that thought did he realize he was no longer holding his weapon, and had actually dropped to the ground and crawled back several feet. He shook his head to refocus himself on the importance of the foe in front of him, and made to draw the ball-and-chain he carried as a secondary weapon. But then, then being before him removed its hood, and Barsik could no longer focus on the world around himself.

[…]

There was a noisy sound of window shutters shaking in the wind. Inside a small room, Barsik felt cold, like there was not anything in the world that existed to heat him up. "Mother..." he whimpered, yet he could not even imagine the embrace of the one he now wished for. There wasn't really any hope or comfort that could reach him in that small, cold room. Perhaps there had never been. He thought this way dejectedly for what felt like some time.

Well...perhaps once there had been warmth. Yes, what may have been the faintest sign of a smile passed over Barsik's face as he recalled once that he had snuck into a fellow adventurer's alcohol supply, and drunk in earnest before accidentally tipping over a few kegs. He'd felt warm then, warm under the glaring eye of the adventurer after he'd been caught in the act, and even warm when later they'd sought protection in countless hundreds of campfires in the years to come. He'd warmed his hands quite well as they shared bounties and stories of meat and gold and much more. The final handshake, a few years before the older man's passing, had been a warm one. Warmth...Barsik's finger felt quite warm. It grew steadily warmer, even as the howling wind battered the shutters. The entire room seemed to shake, and a bright white light began to spread around the room. It shined through the very walls, as they began to slough off their reality and instead give off the ethereal appearance of a dreamworld.

[…]

The world around Barsik shattered, and he was suddenly lying on the sandy floor of the arena. He forced his gaze upward, and his eyes landed on the ghastly face of the undead before him. It glared at him with a complete loathing reserved for only the undead towards the living. A void beneath its stare seemed to speak of death, darkness, and despair, though Barsik felt a power that seemed to originate at his ring flowing through him, and giving him the strength to meet the other being's gaze. This seemed to anger the undead even further, and it advanced forward as if to finish off the fallen Barsik.

Barsik rose in a practiced motion, gaining the ground under his feet as he reequipped his ball-and chain. As the undead stepped forward, Barsik swung. Though it blocked with its shield, the chain wrapped around at landed solidly on the being's arm. It seemed to do some amount of damage, but some dangerous swings of the undead's sword forced Barsik to defensively evade several near-hits.

His opponent's blade appeared to wobble and swing from multiple angles as it duplicated itself in midair, but Barsik could always make out which was the real thing among the forgeries. Still, he was exhausted from the prior battle, and he used the utmost of his warrior's focus to regain third and forth winds just to remain standing and parrying his opponent's strikes. Barsik temporarily gave up on the offensive, and equipped his shortsword to help defend against the relentless onslaught from the undead before him. Passively, he knew that dragging out the fight could not bring himself the advantage, but he could think of none of his one-use consumables that would do much against this undead, and he could not ignore its strikes in the hopes of gaining an offense.

In minutes Barsik felt himself going the way of the 'death knight' before him, and he began to suffer minor injuries in earnest, before losing movement in first his non-dominant arm and then one leg. He took a last stand on his knees, and fought his hardest until he could no longer move his sword arm, and his weapon fell to the ground. He looked back into those hateful eyes, and actually felt a bit of respect for the being that had so completely and utterly extracted the utmost of Barsik's strength from his body, and had still been wanting for yet more. Barsik steeled himself to be slew in a final strike, but in the moment before he would have taken his last breath, the fight was over.


	11. Chapter 11

'_God. Damn. Insects.'_ Arkine mentally cursed. She felt caught between a rock and a hard place, both metaphorically and literally. Metaphorically, because she had previously felt a surge of strength within herself, and was itching to use her arcane and melee fighting skills on willing opponents. Yet she was not the least happy about her present circumstances. That was because physically, she was stuck in a freaking dark, cramped, claustrophobic cave, battling the largest spiders, cockroaches, centipedes, and other creepy crawlies that she had ever seen in her life, and it was _freaking disgusting_.

Arkine was getting tired of the many-legged creatures from hell appearing out of the darkness, and so since she didn't seem to be moving from her defensive spot for the time being, she cast several [Continual Light] lamps a few meters in each direction in order to at least see the fuckers coming. Immediately to her left was a cockroach with a body the size of a newborn child. She put all of her strength into cracking its hard shell with a strike from her staff.

_SPLAT_

Evidently that one had just been the forerunner, because the creatures appeared to be approaching in waves behind it. They were on the walls, ceiling, and floor, approaching from one side of the dark passageway. Where there were groups of them further away, Arkine cast [Fireball] to clear up the clusters. Where they got too close or approached individually, she was forced to fend them off with her staff.

The 'SPLAT' frenzy continued in earnest. Sometimes when the insects got too close or began crawling onto her, she had to kick or knock them away before getting a good swing in to finish the job. Strangely, the roach's several feet-long feelers actually gave Arkine a fraction of a second's warning before some of the unseen scurrying creatures reached her. She appreciated the quirky physical trait, though no doubt the roaches must have benefited as much as her in improved environmental awareness from the feelers. Although the dull ache of her overused muscles grew as the fight went on, an increasing feeling of lightness and energy gradually enveloped her. Passively, she felt like it was a familiar sensation from some long time ago, but in the middle of combat the memory eluded her.

There was a continuous and increasing noise that began to echo around the cave. Its sound was not immediately familiar to Arkine, but as it grew she recognized the type of sound it was. _'Buzzing...what kind of creature makes...oh shit. One that flies...'_ she thought to herself. She knocked away a few nearby roaches, and looked behind herself.

There were not one or two, or even ten. There were _dozens_ of fist-sized flying insects swarming toward her, only a few meters away. She had time to cast one, then another, fireball before the hideous creatures came to within melee range. Unfortunately, it simply didn't look like each spell took out enough of them, and there were still more than enough to begin to surround her.

Six very long and bent backwards legs protruded from each of the monster's tubular main bodies. Their eyes bulged several centimeters wide and to the sides. The most disconcerting element, though, were the long needle-like protrusions extending from their heads, reminding Arkine of daggers ready to pierce her skin. She swatted at the buzzing harassers with her staff, but that removed even fewer than the fireballs had. She could only watch on in horror and strike out in attempted defiance as they surrounded her, and began to encroach inward.

When enough time had passed to again use her spell, Arkine first cast the third tier spell [Flame Resistance] before channeling another [Fireball] with the swarm surrounding her. The already growing smell of burnt bug flesh enveloped the area even further, but it was not enough. The swarm had completely surrounded her, and one at a time jabbed their facial protrusions forward.

* * *

It had been a long time ago, in the plains not too far from E-Rantel, where a younger Arkine had been out escorting a small merchant caravan with her adventuring party _Sunstone_. There had been a number of delays concerning the merchants' caravan, and they were then estimated to return to the fortress city only minutes before true darkness. Even so, the march had once more been ceased after the leader of the adventuring party called a halt from the front of the procession.

"Allison, Harper, bows ready. I smell trouble," their leader, Luisenberg, instructed. The party began to scan the treeline, and the rest of their fighters readied for hand-to-hand and spellcasting combat. A few moments passed, then hell began to let loose.

A small barrage of arrows descended onto both sides of the caravan. From the woods, a dozen figures could be seen standing in between trees. From the plains some dozens of meters out, another group had risen to begin firing in earnest as well. "COVER!" Luisenberg demanded. Most of the merchant parties were already hidden as well as could be within their carriages, and _Sunstone_ took care to lock the wheels before taking cover inside, under, and in one special case on top of, the carriages.

Arkine crouched next to Allison, with her bow scanning the treeline for targets. They did not have a good line of sight against the opposite forces in the fields of grass, but occasional figures from the treeline revealed themselves. From a crouched position Arkine's teammate loosed arrow after arrow, every now and again striking home and felling a would-be bandit. For her own part Arkine cast her own 1st and 2nd tier long range attack spells, mainly magic arrow, at the aggressors. Above them, Harper crouched in a well-fashioned hidey-hole built into the carriage for this exact purpose in mind. Though he was sheltered from all but the most lucky of opposing arrows, Harper had a great overhead view of the men in the plains, and he began picking them off with his own bow.

Arkine could feel her mana being drained away after her 10th arrow shot, and she was just about to cut herself off for the time being when the bandits decided to give up their ranged attack and charge forward for an advanced assault. They were 50 meters away, 40, 30, and Arkine felt herself getting desperate. The bandits still outnumbered the adventurers at least 4 to 1, and they had to have balls or at least some semblance of strength to mean to take the fight to close range. As she was praying to the gods to grant her the strength to persist in the coming melee battle, she felt a feeling of lightness and energy come over her. Without consciously meaning to she began to channel a final bolt of attack magic, but it felt different from the string of [magic arrow]'s that had come before. Not just in type, but largely in strength as well.

"[Lightning]," she chanted, and a bolt of yellow energy sought its target, whom burned and dropped to their knees.

"That's [Lightning], third tier magic user!" one of them cried. Some of them slowed down slightly, seeming unsure of themselves. Although her eyes bulged at the thought of what had just happened, Arkine sought to channel that same strength for a second strike.

"[Lightning]," she chanted again, and another dropped from where they stood.

"Retreat!" someone called. "I didn't sign up for this!"

That was all the adventuring group needed to turn the tide. The attackers hesitated further, and many turned back to run. As the ranged attacks from within the caravan continued unabated, the stronger-willed of the group were soon in too few in numbers to conceivably pull off the assault anyway, and they joined the rest in rout.

Arkine grinned. She'd recognized one of the voices of retreat as none other than their leader, Luisenberg, throwing his voice to the surroundings as he was ever so skilled at doing. Thanks to his calls, they may not have taken a single casualty among them during the defense against the failed raid. Moreover, she felt thrilled at the prospect of what had just occurred within herself, and still she basked in the light feeling enveloping her body. _'What sort of power spike can I expect from this?'_ she wondered.

* * *

Arkine was surrounded by the buzzing sounds and air currents of dozens of pairs of oversized insect wings. Much, much worse, several of them had found openings to stab her with their needle-like protrusions, and to her horror, she felt her very life force seemingly being drained as their disgusting tube mouths gained a blood-like hue, while ripping away at her skin.

She recalled many other times that she had felt truly on death's doorstep, with nothing but the will of the gods and anything she could wield her strength to do to call upon to save her from her fate. She did not stop batting at the evil creatures, even when she felt some of the cockroaches returning to her feet and searching for gaps in her light armor. She suspected she only had enough time and energy for one more close-ranged [Fireball] cast, and prayed that it would be strong enough to drive the swarm away. She channeled:

"[Grand Fireball]!"

The swarm erupted around her. Arkine herself felt a bit of pain as the heat singed her, even through her 3rd tier defense spell [Flame Resistance]. Around her, many of the insects had been burned to a crisp, and some more were going around in confusion, the flying and ground insects alike occasionally running into the walls or a rock protrusion. A few stragglers continued to pursue her, but after she regained her bearings, she was able to end them with some strikes of her staff.

Silence reigned for a moment, before there was a flash of white light, and when it cleared she stood in front of an undead lich, robed and looking down on her crouching form. It waited a moment, before giving her a prepared speech similar to those she'd heard before.

"Congratulations on completing the 4th room. If you wish, you may be granted passage to the Adventurer's Guild individual combat return chambers and be fully healed, or you may continue onward to the 5th individual combat room, though you will also be granted passage to that room after resting and returning if you'd prefer."

Arkine took in the lich's speech like a peasant took in the social cues of noble society. Namely, she didn't pay attention in the slightest. She was a bit busy freaking out about 1. _'Was that a 4__th__ tier spell I just cast?'_ 2\. _'Holy freakin' shit those goddamn bugs almost ate me alive'_ 3\. _'WAS THAT A 4__th__TIER__SPELL I JUST CAST__?!'_

After more time than she may have cared to admit, she finally looked to the lich that seemed to be patiently waiting for a decision. She gauged her current state…

She was completely out of healing and mana potions, having really used them quite liberally earlier. She was battered, bruised, burnt, and bleeding from more than a few wounds. And she felt the lightness and power that had been surrounding her begin to fade, and leave an exhausted body that was probably completely out of magic for the day.

"Yea...I'll be returning to the guild, thank you," she told the lich. It nodded, and indicated to the door leading back to the guild. As an afterthought, she realized that she must have decided at some point that they could no longer be within the guild when in the combat rooms, but must instead have been transported elsewhere. Arkine went for the door, head full of thoughts of wondering how exactly she'd break the news to the rest of her party. _'Or perhaps...I can build it up just a bit, and surprise them with more than one spell?'_ she thought cheerfully, exiting through the door and returning to the realm of humans.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hi readers. Last release was a double release, and when I look at the reader numbers, over 50% more unique users read chapter 11 over chapter 10. I think maybe that's because some readers didn't notice chapter 10, so if you think you might have skipped it, consider looking back and seeing if it's familiar.**

There was a steady repetition of squishing and smashing, accompanied by some grunts and answering groans as the fighting came to an end.

Gord roared a mighty roar as he filled the last of the zombies' skulls with a thick slab of hammer. He stood a stride from the threshold of the door marked '*** Exit', that he had just spent an exhausting amount of time and energy reaching. Behind him rose a large room, divided down the middle by a sturdy fence. On the other half of the room, a number of skeleton-remnants were scattered across the floor, and on this side there were a half-dozen zombie corpses.

Gord's objective had been to reach the door that he now stood in front of, so it could finally be said that he had finished the room for certain. Another adventurer might have simply tried to avoid, distract, or take a direct route through the small hordes of skeletons and zombies, but Gord hadn't felt like he was deft or nimble enough to avoid many of the undead, and so feeling confidence in his own strength, he had taken up his warhammer in a simple charge instead. The skeletons had fallen easily enough to the bludgeoning weapon, and after a short rest he'd entered the second half of the room to face the zombies. They ended up a bit messier with some disgusting fluids spreading all over as the combat went on, and Gord had had to spend some amount of concentration on not slipping in the amassing fluids as the battle came to climax. Now, he was standing among some rather offensive smells with the last of the creatures laying permanently returned to death all around him.

Although he was slimy, smelly, and somewhat exhausted from defeating all of the other combatants, there was a big grin playing across Gord's face. "Had enough, ya undead twats?!" he cursed at the fallen bodies. Although he would never admit so out loud, he was more than a bit gladdened and relieved to have gotten through the room in one piece. This was not fear due to his safety – it appeared more than likely that all adventurers within these combat rooms would be safe from death itself. No, rather he was thankful that he'd managed to complete room 3 after the second try, and wouldn't hold the rest of his team back should he have failed to complete a room for the second day in a row. The pride of a former orichalcum-ranked adventurer wouldn't allow it, and he was thankful that this time it was just a brainless melee he'd had to fight through instead of the twists and turns of a labyrinth like the day before.

Gord passed through the exit, and was greeted by an undead far superior to those he had just been battering. Thankfully, it was a noncombatant. The lich congratulated him on completing the combat room, and asked if he'd be advancing further.

"No, I'll be refreshing myself and returning to the adventuring hall," Gord answered in his gruff voice. True, he could have continued onward, but he was splashed all over with putrid remains, tired from defeating over a dozen weaker foes, and moreover just happy to end the morning on a high note. He went through the exit doorway, and ended up back in the returning chambers of the adventurer's guild.

The room was on the larger side, about 15 meters square, with a number of tables and chairs in the center. Among them were smatterings of adventurers, but Gord did not spy any of his party members, so he determined that he must have been the first to return. Well, it didn't really matter if there was no one else yet, because he had at least one task to do first…

Gord walked over to the countertop labeled 'Magician's Guild' inlaid into one wall, and a receptionist that appeared to be fighting for a blank face greeted him. "Erm...yes, how can I help you sir?" he asked politely. Gord thought the answer was pretty clear, if not from the smell permeating from himself, then surely from the sight of all the gory gunk Gord was covered in.

"I'll be having a cleanup, if you will," Gord confirmed.

The receptionist nodded. "And will that be paid for upfront, or do you have a Plus membership, sir?"

"I'll be paying in coin. Five coppers, was it?" The receptionist nodded in affirmative, and Gord loosened his purse and removed the coinage. The price was, of course, extremely low for the service about to be performed, but it did highlight yet another small advantage of the highly-spoken-of guild membership program. Gord's eyes passed over the series of small booths available to returning adventurers after their successes and/or defeats with the combat rooms of the adventuring guild. In addition to the magician's guild, potion makers and sword and armor smiths were also present. Then the receptionist before him announced that he was ready to begin, and Gord turned back to face him.

"[Clean]!" the man commanded, and soon Gord felt the unpleasant feel and scent of zombie flesh recede, as he was cleaned of the offensive materials on his body. Gord thanked the man for his labors, and went to the potion maker, exchanging the healing potion he had used mid-room for a fresh one. The guild would subsidize the costs of one used healing potion per combat room, or two for Party Plus members, so he only needed to pay a fraction of the normal price. That allowed adventurers to use them much more freely when within the combat rooms. Gord sat down and waited for the rest of his party to return from their adventures.

He did not have to wait too long, soon Rane walked through the door and also exchanged a potion with the alchemist. Rane looked a bit worse for wear, but he was beaming when he sat down with Gord. "It's the best," Rane began to explain unprompted, and shared his experiences with Gord, whom rolled his eyes once he realized what had Rane so hyped up. _'It's a bit of nonsense'_, Gord thought about Rane's preferred fighting style. His teammate seemed to love showboating with all kinds of nonsensical maneuvers while fighting, even claimed that his performance improved because of it. To Rane's displeasure, the rest of _Berserk_ agreed that his fighting style had no place in the party, so he had to be more of a 'straight shooter' when it came to normal party adventuring. Even so, Gord figured it was fine for him to get his kicks out here, where there was no one to risk but himself, so he said nothing to the contrary.

In time Arkine and Barsik joined them. They both seemed more than a little worse for wear, more like they had each been to hell and back. This made Gord feel like he didn't have much to look forward to in the higher-level combat rooms should he visit them later, but he'd deal with that when he got there. The party shared a condensed version of each of their combats, though it seemed that both Arkine and Barsik were somewhat distracted in their own heads. Eventually the party decided that that day would be a good one for exploring what the full terms would be for getting a Party Plus membership, and what available opportunities there would be for the required 'community service' portion of the application. They exited the combat return chambers, and made their way to the main receptionist desk in the entrance room of the Sorcerous Kingdom Adventurer's Guild.

When the party's turn in line came, they were provided with a list of 'community service' events that would be available over the coming days. Among the list were opportunities for local community construction projects, farm work at battle-recovering villages, city patrol duty, and 'substitute teacher' work in service to local school children. The final option sounded the least like any other mission that the party had ever gone on, and after some deliberation they chose that assignment, which was two days away, giving each of them the rest of that day and the next to recover and spend some personal time in the city. The following day they would attend the 'service' in the morning and the final step of the party certification process, advancing through a party combat room, in the evening of the same day. The party thanked the receptionist for their help, and disbanded for the day.

* * *

A certain group of people crept along the ground, and hid themselves behind large rocks and trees. Peering around, they saw the form of a sleeping dragon. Resting next to the dragon lay a jeweled crown, stolen from the kingdom by the greed and transgressions due a dragon. All appeared to be quiet, and so the party continued silently onward.

Yenna lead the front of the team as they approached the sleeping dragon. She was nearly upon the stolen artifact when the dragon's eyes flicked open, and a moment later there were sounds of clashes behind her. It was a trap!

Yenna leapt for the crown, but the dragon swiped it away. It began to breath fire at her, but she held her fire-resistant cloak in front of herself to mitigate the damage. All around her, she heard clashes of sword on sword, but that wasn't right…

Yenna turned around to see her comrades engaged in duels with wooden-sword wielding adversaries. "You guys..." she complained. "This is supposed to be a den of _dragons._ Dragons can't use swords!"

One of the 'dragons', Bane, responded, "But I wanted to be a bandit. Bandits can have swords."

Yenna stomped her foot down. "Dragons cannot team up with bandits."

"Can too."

"Nah-uh. Dragons would _eat_ bandits."

"That's not true!" Bane shouted back. He raised his sword, and slashed at her. They may have been about the same height, but Yenna, the goblin child, was about a year older than him, and much more agile. She side-stepped the swipe, and brought her own wooden dagger to his side. She let the attack lose its force a moment before it touched him, so the wooden blade left not so much as a scratch or bruise.

He looked back at her hatefully, and for a moment she wished she hadn't been so gentle. _'Why does __Bane__ have to ruin games all the time...'_ she thought. A few of the children that hung out with Bane more often than her helped him away, but the two still locked eyes on each other.

"Children, it's time for afternoon chores!" they heard Mistress Amber call out from the inner edge of the playgrounds. Their staring feud lasted a moment longer, but the rest of the children moved to hurry back to the orphanage's main building, and soon they followed suit. Once back inside, they joined a few dozen of their fellows from within the orphanage around a chalk board and one of their mistresses.

"Now," Mistress Amber began, "today there are a few afternoon chores to see to. For farm work we have the horses, cows, pigs, and dogs to see to for food and stall cleaning. We'll be having a rare treat, as Mistress Aeole will be seeing to gardening on the second floor today." As she mentioned each of the evening's tasks, she chalked them onto the board, so far having written 'Farm' and 'Garden', which most of the children could now read. She continued, "The commons area will need to be swept up a bit, and I trust you'll all wash yourselves up and leave the bathing areas in good condition as you come inside. On an important note, Headmistress Pestonya says that yesterday's efforts spent contributing to the ongoing construction of the New District Orphanage went splendidly and she'd love some more volunteers for this afternoon. Lastly I'd like a few volunteers for my trip to the market for some foods and other supplies."

Hands shot up, and Mistress Amber smiled. Among them, she chose a few. "Let's see...today I'll take Joel, Daeny, Jane, Erin, Bane, and...Yenna," she declared, marking their names down on the board. Yenna was excited, but not quite enough so to notice that Bane and some of his friends would also be joining the party. _'Oh well...'_ she sighed, and then began to wonder about meats, magic items, and other wondrous things that the market entailed.

The trip to the closest marketplace wasn't too far a distance away, and they took a carriage along to help carry the goods on the way back. Many of the children took turns ridding in the back of the carriage and even in the front with Mistress Amber, but Yenna preferred walking to carriage riding anyway, so she voided her turns riding in comfort to stay on the pebbled pathways with the other children. Chiefly by her side was Daeny, whom was a member of their secret sworn pact to become adventurers once they came of age to leave the orphanage. Together, they walked side by side and attempted to mimic the postures of the many city guard that they passed along the way, many of whom they knew were adventurers themselves. Unfortunately they had not been permitted to bring their wooden play-swords with them on the journey, but Yenna delighted that she had successfully snuck her dagger along under her sleeve, and she also felt proud that with it she would be slightly better equipped to defend the expedition before more help arrived, should any thieves or the like think them easy prey.

The group passed a few bends and even a bridge along the pathway, where at every turn Yenna imagined an evildoer might lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce on their brigade whenever they were least ready for it. Occasionally she and Daeny spotted someone clad in adventuring gear, and they discussed what kind of metals the armor might have been made of, or what effects the runes transcribed onto the gear might have. They especially admired the female adventurers that they passed, and strove to reflect the same proud, disciplined auras when they were in their position. Internally, Yenna wished that the day would come that she'd see a goblin adventurer, of any sex, patrolling the pathways, but she decided that even if there were none, she would become the first to pave the way for others.

It was like this that they arrived upon the marketplace. From some distance, the hawkers and hustle and bustle began to fill their senses, until finally they were upon it. The smell of fresh cooked meat was one of the strongest and most alluring of the hawked wares, though they were there for dried meats and other items for longer preservation, not recently cooked ones. When Yenna could ignore the fresh meats, she scanned some of the other nearby booths. What she most admired were the armor and weaponry stalls, and the magical item trinkets lining shelves displayed by some sellers. The temptation to wander off was great, but she could feel the eyes of Mistress Amber on her when she began to imagine making a run for one of the shops that caught her eye, and she knew that if she misbehaved she'd never get another chance to visit the market until her 15th nameday when she would officially gain privileges to leave of her own accord.

The party made a few stops throughout the district, and gradually their carriage began to fill up with goods. The children were waiting together by the carriage while their mistress discussed prices for oats with a merchant when a great commotion began to erupt around a nearby booth. There was a crash as several items were knocked to the ground, and several shouts rose above the generally boisterous atmosphere of the marketplace. One voice shouted, "No. No, it is MINE!" as another cacophony resulted from a whole table of brass goods falling to one side. Yenna forgot herself, and made to rush over to where the action was taking place, flitting through the taller, fuller, human adult populace with her smaller goblin frame. She reached the middle of the conflict as a glint of steel caught the light, and stabbed forward from one human onto another. The dagger failed to reach its mark, though, when the second man slapped it to once side with a gauntleted hand. Yenna was unsure of which man was in the right, until she saw the face of the second man. Mustering her courage, she rushed forward and kicked at the recently disarmed combatant, felling the unstable man. She slid her wood-fashioned dagger under his chin, in a wordless threat beckoning the man to not move a muscle. Then she proudly looked up to the second man, Barsik, and wondered what had happened to start the dispute.


End file.
